prothrombin g20210a mutation is not a risk factor for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia in western iran

background : we conducted the present study to investigate the frequency of prothrombin g20210a mutation among acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients and healthy individuals from western iran and to detect the possible association between this mutation and the risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in our population. methods : the studied groups consisted of 92 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 249 age- and sex-matched healthy children from western iran. the prothrombin g20210a mutation was identified by pcr-rflp using the restriction enzyme of hind iii. results : the prevalence of prothrombin 20210 ga genotype was 6.5% in patients and 3.2% in controls (p=0.17). the frequency of the a allele in patients was 3.3% and in controls it was1.6%. conclusion : the present study indicates the absence of any significant differences in the frequency of the prothrombin g20210a mutation between acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients and healthy individuals. the results suggest that this mutation may not be a risk factor for acute lymphoblastic leukemia in our population.