Abstract: Abstract： Objective To explore the association between maternal methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T polymorphism and neural tube defects (NTDs). Methods CBM, VIP, CNKI, Wanfang, PubMed and Web of Science databases from set up to March, 2014 were electronically searched to identify case-control studies on the relationship be⁃ tween maternal MTHFR C677T polymorphism and NTDs. The data were quantitatively analyzed by RevMan 5.0 software. Re⁃ sults A total of 25 studies were selected including 2 282 cases and 3 420 controls. Overall, the pooled OR (with 95% CI) under co-dominant model and allele contrast were 2.28(1.60-3.24), 1.25(1.02-1.53) and 1.42(1.21-1.67). Subgroup analy⁃ sis showed significant association between maternal MTHFR C677T polymorphism and NTDs susceptibility in Asian popula⁃ tions. Conclusion The present meta-analysis suggests that MTHFR C677T polymorphism is significantly associated with maternal risk for NTDs, especially in Asian populations.

Key words: neural tube defects, 5,10-methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase, polymorphism, genetic, Meta-analysis, genetic polymorphism