Frequency of the thermolabile variant C677T in the MTHFR gene and lack of association with neural tube defects in the State of Yucatan, Mexico

The C677T variant in the MTHFR gene is considered to be an associated risk factor for neural tube defects. However, the association has not been found in some ethnic groups. In order to assess the association between neural tube defects and the C677T variant, we determined the frequency of this variant in the MTHFR gene in the State of Yucatan, Mexico, where neural tube defects are highly prevalent. The study was performed on 65 subjects with spine bifida, 60 of their mothers and 110 control subjects. The presence of the C677T variant was determined by amplification and digestion with HinF1 of each subject's DNA. Genotypic and allelic frequencies were calculated for all groups. We did not observe any statistically significant difference in the genotypic or allelic frequencies between cases and controls for any of the groups studied ( p > 0.05), suggesting that the thermolabile variant C677T is not an associated risk factor neither for the development of neural tube defects nor for mothers to have affected offspring in the population from Yucatan. Interestingly, the frequency of the C677T variant ( 54%) obtained in the Yucatan population is one of the highest reported ( p < 0.01) and confirmed the high frequency of this allele throughout Mexico.