Thermolabile methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase in patients with coronary artery disease.

Thermostability of lymphocyte methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) was determined in 21 patients aged less than 50 years with proven coronary artery disease, and in 21 age- and sex-matched controls without clinical evidence of vascular disease. The mean +/- SD of residual activity after heat inactivation at 46 degrees C for five minutes was 37.6% +/- 5.6% in the controls. In contrast, patients with coronary artery disease could be divided into two subgroups. Fifteen of them had 38.1 +/- 5.9% residual activity which was similar to that of the controls. In six of them the mean +/- SD residual activity after heat inactivation was 13.6% +/- 5.1% which was below 2 SD of the normal mean. These observations suggested that thermolabile MTHFR was associated with development of coronary artery disease.