Mutation C677T of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene is not associated with coronary artery disease, but possibly with albuminuria, in type 2 diabetic patients

The missense mutation in the 677th nucleotide (C677T) of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene causes substitution of valine (V) for alanine (A) resulting in three genotypes VV,VA and AA. The VV genotype causes hyperhomocysteinemia and may be a risk factor for coronary artery disease. We determined genotypes by polymerase chain reaction and subsequent restriction fragment length analysis and compared them in 84 patients with type 2 diabetes and in 115 non-diabetic subjects with and without coronary disease. Fractional urinary excretion rate of albumin was assessed by nephelometry. The VV VA, and AA frequencies in the diabetic and in the control groups were 0.095, 0.357, 0.548 and 0.061, 0.417, 0.522, respectively (p = NS, diabetic vs. controls, chi(2) test). Genotype frequencies did not differ in either diabetic or control subjects between those with or those without coronary disease (chi(2) test). The fractional urinary excretion rate of albumin (mean +/-SD) in diabetic patients with the VV genotype i.e. 1.59 +/- 0.71 was lower (Kruskall-Wallis test p = 0.002) than in the other genotypes i.e. VA 5.98 +/- 9.75 and AA 3.75 +/- 4.77, respectively (post-hoc Mann-Whitney test VV vs. VA p = 0.005 and VV vs. AA p 0.054, respectively). We found that in patients with type 2 diabetes the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase VV genotype was associated with a low urinary albumin excretion but not with coronary artery disease or diabetes per se.