Gene Expression of the MTHFR Gene in a Sample of Diabetic Retinopathy Iraqi Patients

Abstract

Diabetic retinopathy (DR)is a condition in which the walls of the small blood vessels of the retina are damaged by diabetic mellitus (DM), which can lead to blindness. Factors including genetic makeup and nutrient regulation in the body may be the causes of this disease. Methylenetetrahydrofolate (MTHFR) plays a key role in cellular processes like regulating homocysteine levels and Oxidative Stress.  The present study designed to investigate the association between MTHFR gene expression and DR. This study involved One hundred fifty Iraqi subjects in total, including fifty DR patients, fifty DM patients as positive control, and fifty apparently healthy individuals as negative control. Blood samples were collected from all subjects for RNA extraction according to the Trizol-based method using reverse transcription and RT-PCR assay analysis.  The results showed that MTHFR gene expression according to ∆Ct was generally elevated in DR patients with a fold change of 2.45 compared with the apparently control group. The MTHFR gene expression according to ∆∆Ct confirming these results which showed distinct increase in MTHFR gene expression in DR patients in compared with healthy control (2.16), indicating that this gene is a possible cause of severe vascular diseases such as retinal vascular narrowing, an important component of diabetic retinopathy.