Association of MTHFR polymorphism and periodontitis’ severity in Indonesian males

Methods: Severity of periodontitis was classified as mild, moderate or severe for 100 consenting, 25 to 60 years old male Indonesians. Using PCR amplified DNA extracted from blood serum, the variation at the SNP (677C>T) polymorphism of the MTHFR gene was evaluated by RFLP with the restriction cutting enzyme HinfI and electrophoresis of the fragments on agarose gel. Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for statistical assessment of the results.

Results: The results show no significant association of the 677C>T polymorphism in the MTHFR gene with the severity of periodontitis in Indonesian men. This can be partly due to the low frequency (2%) of the homozygous minor allele genotype (TT). However, given the high prevalence of periodontitis in Indonesia, rarity of the TT genotype may help to reduce the risk to systemic disease that is thought to be associated with periodontitis. 

Conclusions:

Polymorphism (677 C>T) of the MTHFR gene is not significantly associated with the severity of periodontitis in Indonesian men. The observed frequency of the homozygous genotype of the minor allele (TT) for this polymorphism was low (2%), in agreement with that observed previously for Indonesian and other Southeast Asian populations. The rarity of the TT genotype is a disadvantage for assessing the related hazard for individual subjects, but due to the high prevalence of periodontitis in Indonesia, possibly fortuitous assuming a further association of periodontitis with systemic disease.