Center for Brain Disorders Research, Capital Medical University & Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Beijing, 100069, China.
The National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders of Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100088, China.
Transl Psychiatry. 2018 Nov 5;8(1):242. doi: 10.1038/s41398-018-0276-6.
Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is a key enzyme for the critical process of one-carbon metabolism involving folate and homocysteine metabolisms. It is known that some polymorphism of MTHFR would result in reduction of MTHFR enzyme activity as well as DNA methylation process, later shown to have significant impacts in various psychiatric diseases. However, it is unclear whether the polymorphism of MTHFR could be an independent or an add-on risk factor for specific psychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, positive, or negative symptoms of schizophrenia, or acts as risk factor for specific psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, major depression, autisms, and bipolar disorders. It is also understudied on whether folate supplements could be an effective treatment for psychiatric patients with defect MTHFR activity. In this review, we not only gathered the most recent discoveries on MTHFR polymorphism and related DNA methylation in various psychiatric disorders, but also highlighted the potential relationships between MTHFR activity and implication of folate-related function in specific mental diseases.
亚甲基四氢叶酸还原酶（MTHFR）是一个关键的酶，对于涉及叶酸和同型半胱氨酸代谢的一碳代谢的关键过程至关重要。已知 MTHFR 的某些多态性会导致 MTHFR 酶活性以及 DNA 甲基化过程的降低，后来表明其对各种精神疾病有显著影响。然而，MTHFR 的多态性是否可以作为特定精神症状（如焦虑、抑郁、精神分裂症的阳性或阴性症状）的独立或附加风险因素，或者是否可以作为特定精神障碍（如精神分裂症、重度抑郁症、自闭症和双相情感障碍）的风险因素，目前还不清楚。叶酸补充剂是否可以作为 MTHFR 活性缺陷的精神疾病患者的有效治疗方法，这方面也研究较少。在这篇综述中，我们不仅收集了关于 MTHFR 多态性及其在各种精神疾病中的相关 DNA 甲基化的最新发现，还强调了 MTHFR 活性与叶酸相关功能在特定精神疾病中的潜在关系。
