Aim: The study was aimed at investigation of several gene variants of folate pathway enzymes for their potential association with methotrexate (MTX) treatment response in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Patients & methods: Four hundred and twenty two Caucasian patients were classified as good or poor responders, and subsequently genotyped for common SNPs in DHFR, FPGS and ATIC genes.
Results: No significant differences were observed in case of DHFR and FGPS SNPs. As for ATIC rs2372536 (Thr116Ser), GG minor genotype was significantly associated with good response to MTX (OR: 2.40; 95% CI: 1.30-4.42; p = 0.005), which was confirmed by multivariate analysis.
Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that ATIC missense rs2372536 SNP may influence response to MTX therapy in rheumatoid arthritis patients.
Keywords: folate pathway; methotrexate; rheumatoid arthritis.