Abstract
Objective. The cause of majority of acute leukemias is unknown, but likely to involve interaction of environment, hematopoitic development and weak susceptibility loci within an individual's genetic constitution. The present study evaluates the association between plasma levels of homocysteine, folate and vitamin B-12 and acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Methods. Plasma levels of homocysteine, folate and vitamin B-12 were compared between cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and age and sex matched normal controls. Homocysteine levels were measured by solid immunoassay, while folate and vitamin B-12 levels were determined by radioassay.
Results. Folate levels were significantly among cases as compared to control group (8.56 +/- 4.35) vs (14.04 +/- 2.62) ng/ml, P<0.001). Although individually vitamin B-12 and homocysteine were not significant different between cases and controls, the combined effect of all three parameters was significantly different (P<0.001), with 83.3% of correct classification of cases and controls was obtained by discriminate function analysis.
Conclusion. The data provide evidence for the role of folate, vitamin B-12 and homocysteine levels in acute lymphoblastic leukemia, suggesting that gene-environment interaction may be an important factor in the development of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.