Association ofnon-alcoholic fatty liver with plasma homocysteine and the methylenetetrahydrofolatereductase gene polymorphism in patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Shanxi, China

Abstract

：To investigate therelationship between plasma level of homocysteine(Hcy) and the methylenetetrahydrofolatereductase ( MTHFR ) gene polyroorphism with non-alcoholic fatty liver in patients withtype 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods In a case-control study, plasma levels of Hcy,folic acid (FA), vitamin B12 (VitB12), glycosylated hemoglobin Alc (HbAlc), fasting bloodglucose (FBG), total cholesterol and triglyceride were measured in 159 T2DM patients withand without non-alcoholic fatty liver ( NAFL), as well as 52 normal controls. Mutation ofthe C677T of MTHFR gene was determined by polymerase chain reaction-restricted fragmentlength polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) for all of them. Results Patients of T2DM both without NAFL(96 case) and with NAFL had higher prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia (Hhcy) (49% and 21%,respectively ) than normal controls did (4 cases, 8% ) (P<0.05), while patients of T2DMwith NAFL had higher prevalence of Hhcy than those without it did (P <0. 05). Plasmalevel of Hey positively correlated to genotype frequency of the MTHFR gene, plasma 0levelsof HbAlc and FBG in patients of T2DM, with coefficients of correlation of 0.248, 0.423 and0.242, respectively (P < 0.05). Results of multiple logistic regression analysis showedthat course of the disease, body mass index, plasma levels of FBG and Hcy all wereindependent risk factors for non-alcoholic fatty liver in patients with T2DM. ConclusionsHhey was an independent risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver and plasma level of Hey wasinfluenced by frequency of the TT genotype of the MTHFR gene, plasma levels of FA andVitB12, as well as metabolic disturbance in patients with T2DM.