Lack of association between methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T and ischaemic heart disease (IHD): family-based association study in a Spanish population

The effect of the C677T polymorphism in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene, traditionally associated with ischaemic heart disease (IHD), was assessed in a Spanish population. The transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) was used to determine a possible association in a sample of 101 trios of IHD patients. The distribution of MTHFR genotypes was similar in the IHD subjects and the parental group; the TT genotype was present in 14.9% of IHD patients, as compared to 15.2% in the parents. The frequency of the T allele was also similar in IHD cases and parents (39.6% vs. 42.4%; p = 0.649). The TDT confirmed that the observed transmission of the T allele did not deviate significantly from the expected one (chi2 = 0.743; p > 0.4). Our TDT analysis clearly demonstrates a lack of association between the T allele of the C677T mutation in MTHFR and cardiovascular artery disease, both for the general group and for different risk subgroups (smokers, hypertension, male sex, overweight and type A behaviour pattern) in the Spanish population.