Methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase gene polymorphism is associated with severity of liver steatosis in chronically infected patients with hcv genotype 4

Background: Methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T polymorphism was reported as a genetic variant in liver steatosis and fibrosis. This is a study of the association between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and HCV core with severity of steatosis in HCV GT4 patients. Methods: 111 HCV patients and 112 control subjects were recruited. Polymorphism was detected by RFLP analysis, core Ag was detected by ELISA. Results: Combined HCV infection and MTHFR C677T polymorphism increases the risk to develop steatosis by 3.63- And 5.21-fold in subjects with single (CT) and double (TT) substitutions, respectively. Patients with chronic HCV infection had a 2.88- And 8.57-fold higher risk to develop steatosis in CT and TT genotypes, respectively, than patients with the (CC) genotype. No significant difference in core Ag titers were observed. Conclusions: MTHFR C677T polymorphism is a valuable genetic marker for steatosis, while HCV core Ag titer had no association with grades of steatosis in GT4 infections.