Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase A1298C polymorphism and diabetes risk: evidence from a meta-analysis

Abstract

Aim: The relationship between the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) A1298C polymorphism and the susceptibility of diabetes remains inclusive or controversial. For better understanding of the influence of MTHFR A1298C polymorphism on diabetes risk, we performed this meta-analysis.

Methods: All related articles were identified through a search of PubMed, Embase, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM, Chinese), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wangfang Database (Chinese). The relationship between the MTHFR A1298C polymorphism and diabetes susceptibility was conducted by odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals.

Results: Total of six studies with 897 cases and 852 controls were included in our meta-analysis. Overall, the significance associated was found between MTHFR A1298C polymorphism and the susceptibility of diabetes under recessive model (CC vs.

Ac/aa: OR=1.70, 95% CI=1.18-2.45, p=0.004). On the subgroup analysis according to ethnicity, the results indicated that MTHFR A1298C polymorphism has a significant association with diabetes in Asian population under dominant model (CC/AC vs. AA: OR=1.31, 95% CI=1.003-1.72, p=0.047). However, there was no association found between MTHFR A1298C polymorphism and diabetes susceptibility in Caucasians.

Conclusions: The results indicated that the MTHFR A1298C polymorphism is a dangerous factor for diabetes, especially for Asians.

Keywords: Diabetes; MTHFR; meta-analysis; polymorphism.