Breast cancer risk associated with gene expression and genotype polymorphisms of the folate-metabolizing MTHFR gene: a case-control study in a high altitude Ecuadorian mestizo population

Andrés López-Cortés*, Carolina Echeverría, Fabián Oña-Cisneros, María Eugenia Sánchez, Camilo Herrera, Alejandro Cabrera-Andrade, Felipe Rosales, Malena Ortiz, César Paz-y-Miño

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) is the leading cause of cancer-related death among women in 2014. Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), methionine synthase (MTR), and MTR reductase (MTRR) are enzymes that play an important role in folate metabolism. The single nucleotide polymorphisms, MTHFR C677T, A1298C, MTR A2756G, and MTRR A66G, alter plasmatic folate and homocysteine concentrations, causing problems during the repairment, synthesis, and methylation of the genetic material. Therefore, it is essential to know how BC risk is associated with histopathological and immunohistochemical characteristics, genotype polymorphisms, and gene expression in a high altitude Ecuadorian mestizo population. DNA was extracted from 195 healthy and 114 affected women. Genotypes were determined by restriction enzymes and genomic sequencing. mRNA was extracted from 26 glandular breast tissue samples, both from cancerous tissue and healthy tissue adjacent to the tumor. Relative gene expression was determined with the comparative Livak method (2−ΔΔCT). We found significant association between the rs1801133 (A222V) genotypes and an increased risk of BC development: C/T (odds ratio [OR] = 1.8; 95 % confidence interval [CI] = 1.1–3.2; P = 0.039), T/T (OR = 2.9; 95 % CI = 1.2–7.2; P = 0.025), and C/T + T/T (OR = 1.9; 95 % CI = 1.1–3.3; P = 0.019). Regarding relative gene expression, we found significant mRNA subexpression between the combined genotypes C/T + T/T (rs1801133) and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) (P = 0.034). In brief, the MTHFR gene and its protein could act as potential predictive biomarkers of BC, especially TNBC among the high altitude Ecuadorian mestizo population.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6451-6461
Number of pages11
JournalTumor Biology
Volume36
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 24 Aug 2015
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, International Society of Oncology and BioMarkers (ISOBM).

Keywords

  • Breast cancer
  • Livak method
  • MTHFR
  • Odds Ratio
  • Relative gene expression
  • Triple negative breast cancer

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