Genetic polymorphisms in MTR are associated with non-syndromic congenital heart disease from a family-based case-control study in the Chinese population

Genetic polymorphisms of folate pathway genes have been reported to be associated with congenital heart diseases (CHDs); however, the results remain conflicting. We conducted a family-based case-control study, which included160 CHD case-parent triads and 208 control-parent triads to explore the association of 18 genetic variants of seven folate metabolism-related genes with the risk of CHDs. The MTR C allele of rs1770449 (OR = 1.961, 95%CI: 1.379–2.788) and the MTR A allele of rs1050993 (OR = 1.994, 95%CI: 1.401–2.839) in infants were associated with an increased risk of CHDs. Over-transmission of SNPs rs1770449 and rs1050993 and haplotype CAA (rs1770449-rs1805087-rs1050993) in MTR were detected in total CHDs. The above mentioned associations of MTR with CHDs were also observed in septal defects and conotruncal heart defects subgroups. Without maternal periconceptional folate intake, the risk of CHDs among women carrying the rs1770449 “CT or CC” genotype or the rs1050993 “AG or AA” genotype in MTR was 3.262(95%CI: 1.656–6.429) or 3.263(95%CI: 1.656–6.429) times greater than the aOR in women carrying wild genotype, respectively. Our study suggests that MTR polymorphisms (rs1770449 and rs1050993) may be associated with the risk of CHDs and modify the relation between maternal folate intake and CHDs.