A total of 401 subjects including 131 symptomatic malaria, 97 asymptomatic malaria and 173 normal healthy controls were analysed for nine polymorphisms (single-nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs] in eight genes and insertion/deletion in one gene): MTHFR C677T, methionine synthase reductase (MTRR) A66G, glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII) C1561T, cystathionine beta-synthase (CBS) 844ins68, reduced folate carrier-1 (RFC-1) G80A, serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT) C1420T, methionine synthase (MTR) A2756G, MTHFR G1793A (D 919G), glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) 1289 by PCR-RFLP technique.
Increased resistance to malaria in mice with methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (Mthfr) deficiency suggests a mechanism for selection of the MTHFR 677C>T (c.665C>T) variant.