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Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase Genotype Affects Risk of Relapse after Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

¹ Cancer Prevention Program, Public Health Sciences Division and ² Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington; and ³ Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Nutritional Sciences and ⁴ Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

Purpose: Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) directs intracellular folate toward homocysteine metabolism and away from nucleotide synthesis. Two common MTHFR polymorphisms, C677T and A1298C, are associated with reduced enzyme activity. We evaluated the association of these polymorphisms with risk of relapse and bcr-abl mRNA transcript detection among 336 Caucasian patients who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Experimental Design: Data on the transplant course and folate-related exposures were abstracted from medical records. MTHFR C677T and A1298C genotypes were determined using polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism and TaqMan assays. Qualitative bcr-abl mRNA testing was conducted using a two-step reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assay. Cox regression analysis was used to assess the association between MTHFR genotypes and time to relapse and bcr-abl mRNA detection.

Results: A statistically significant decreased risk of relapse was observed in patients with the variant A1298C genotype [1298AC, hazard ratio (HR) = 0.48 and 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.26–0.88; 1298CC, HR = 0.28 and 95% CI = 0.09–0.84; P-trend < 0.01). For the joint C677T/A1298C genotype, variant genotypes were associated with a decreased risk of relapse when compared with the wild-type 677CC/1298AA genotype. This risk was lowest for the 677CC/1298CC genotype (HR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.08–0.72). MTHFR genotypes were not associated with bcr-abl transcript detection.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that individuals with the 677CC/1298AA genotype are at higher risk of relapse after hematopoietic cell transplantation and that the balance of intracellular folate metabolites available for nucleotide synthesis (regulated by the relative activity of the MTHFR enzyme) may affect the progression from bcr-abl positivity to clinical relapse.

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