Individualized Supplementation of Folic Acid According to Polymorphisms of Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR), Methionine Synthase Reductase (MTRR) Reduced Pregnant Complications

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to detect the genotype distributions and allele frequencies of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T, A1298C and methionine synthase reductase (MTRR) A66G polymorphisms of pregnant women in Jiaodong region in China, and to investigate whether folic acid supplementation affect the pregnancy complications. Setting: A total of 7,812 pregnant women from the Jiaodong region in Shandong province in China. Methods: By using Taqman-MGB, 2,928 pregnant women (case group) were tested for the genotype distributions and allele frequencies of MTHFR C677T, A1298C and MTRR A66G polymorphisms. Folic acid metabolism ability was ranked at four levels and then pregnant women in different rank group were supplemented with different doses of folic acid. Their pregnancy complications were followed up and compared with 4,884 pregnant women without folic acid supplementation (control group) in the same hospital. Results: The allele frequencies of MTHFR C677T were 49.1 and 50.9%; those of MTHFR A1298C were 80.2 and 19.8%, and those of MTRR A66G were 74.1 and 25.9%. After supplemented with folic acid, the complication rates in different age groups were significantly reduced, especially for gestational diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Conclusion: Periconceptional folic acid supplementation and healthcare following gene polymorphism testing may be a powerful measure to decrease congenital malformations.