Homocysteine,vitamin B12 and folate status in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Objective  The cause of majority of acute leukemias is unknown, but likely to involve interaction of environment, hematopoitic development and weak susceptibility loci within an individual’s genetic constitution. The present study evaluates the association between plasma levels of homocysteine, folate and vitamin B₁₂ and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Methods  Plasma levels of homocysteine, folate and vitamin B₁₂ were compared between cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and age and sex matched normal controls. Homocysteine levels were measured by solid immunoassay, while folate and vitamin B₁₂ levels were determined by radioassay. Results  Folate levels were significantly among cases as compared to control group (8.56 ± 4.35) vs (14.04 ± 2.62) ng/ml, P<0.001). Although individually vitamin B₁₂ and homocysteine were not significant different between cases and controls, the combined effect of all three parameters was significantly different (P<0.001), with 83.3% of correct classification of cases and controls was obtained by discriminate function analysis. Conclusion  The data provide evidence for the role of folate, vitamin B₁₂ and homocysteine levels in acute lymphoblastic leukemia, suggesting that gene-environment interaction may be an important factor in the development of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.