RESUMO
Folate metabolism dysfunction can lead to DNA hypomethylation and abnormal chromosomal segregation. Previous investigations of this association have produced controversial results. Here we performed a case-control study in patients with Turner syndrome (TS) to determine the effects of genetic polymorphisms of folate pathway genes as potential risk factors for somatic chromosomal nondisjunction. TS is a useful model for this investigation because patients with TS show a high frequency of chromosome mosaicism. Here we investigated the possible association of polymorphisms of the MTHFR gene with TS risk, which has been previously investigated with controversial results. We also examined the effects of MTR, RFC1, and TYMS gene polymorphisms in TS for the first time. The risk was evaluated according to allelic and genotype (independent and combined) frequencies among 70 patients with TS and 144 age-matched healthy control subjects. Polymorphism genotyping was performed by PCR, PCR-RFLP, and PCR-ASA. The polymorphisms MTHFR 677C>T and 1298A>C, MTR 2756A>G, RFC1 80G>A, and TYMS 2R/3R-alone or in combinations-were not associated with the risk of chromosomal aneuploidy in TS. In conclusion, our present findings did not support a link between impaired folate metabolism and abnormal chromosome segregation leading to somatic nondisjunction in TS patients.
Assuntos
Ácido Fólico/metabolismo , Metilenotetra-Hidrofolato Redutase (NADPH2)/genética , Não Disjunção Genética/fisiologia , Polimorfismo Genético/genética , Transdução de Sinais/genética , Síndrome de Turner/genética , 5-Metiltetra-Hidrofolato-Homocisteína S-Metiltransferase/genética , Estudos Transversais , Análise Citogenética , Genótipo , Humanos , Modelos Logísticos , Não Disjunção Genética/genética , Razão de Chances , Mutação Puntual/genética , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase , Polimorfismo de Fragmento de Restrição , Proteína de Replicação C/genética , Fatores de Risco , Timidilato Sintase/genéticaRESUMO
Turner syndrome (TS) is a common genetic disorder in females associated with the absence of complete or parts of a second sex chromosome. In 5-12% of patients, mosaicism for a cell line with a normal or structurally abnormal Y chromosome is identified. The presence of Y-chromosome material is of medical importance because it results in an increased risk of developing gonadal tumours and virilisation. Molecular study and fluorescence in situ hybridisation approaches were used to study 74 Brazilian TS patients in order to determine the frequency of hidden Y-chromosome mosaicism, and to infer the potential risk of developing malignancies. Additionally, we describe one TS girl with a very uncommon karyotype 46,X,der(X)t(X;Y)(p22.3?2;q11.23) comprising a partial monosomy of Xp22.3?2 together with a partial monosomy of Yq11.23. The presence of cryptic Y-chromosome-specific sequences was detected in 2.7% of the cases. All patients with Y-chromosome-positive sequences showed normal female genitalia with no signs of virilisation. Indeed, the clinical data from Y-chromosome-positive patients was very similar to those with Y-negative results. Therefore, we recommend that the search for hidden Y-chromosome mosaicism should be carried out in all TS cases and not be limited to virilised patients or carriers of a specific karyotype.