- Title
- Elevated folic acid results in contrasting cancer cell line growth with implications for mandatory folic acid fortification
- Creator
- Yates, Zoe; Lucock, Mark; Veysey, Martin; Choi, Jeong-hwa
- Relation
- Journal of Nutrition and Health Vol. 49, Issue 2, p. 72-79
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.4163/jnh.2016.49.2.72
- Publisher
- Korean Nutrition Society
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2016
- Description
- Purpose: The initiation of mandatory folic acid fortification using pteroylmonoglutamic acid (PteGlu) has reduced the rate of congenital malformations. However, it also appears to be responsible for several adverse effects, including increased cancer incidence. This may be related to physicho-chemical characteristics of PteGlu. This study examines the potential effect of high concentrations of PteGlu on a population subjected to mandatory folic acid fortification using an in vitro model. Methods: Caco-2 (colorectal cancer) and MCF7 (breast cancer) cell lines were cultured at 6 different PteGlu concentrations (0, 0.1, 1, 50, 250, and 500µg/ml) for 6 days. Cell growth was determined using thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide assay. The genotype of dihydrofolate reductase 19bp deletion/insertion (DHFR 19-del) was also scored in cell lines using a restriction fragment length polymorphism technique to examine whether genetic variations may factor in cell proliferation. Results: PteGlu exhibited differential growth promoting properties between cell lines. Caco-2 cells did not show a significant growth difference at low concentrations compared to control, however, at higher concentrations, the growth showed a contrasting trend in the early experimental period, while MCF7 showed enhanced cell growth at all concentrations. The DHFR 19-del genotype differed in the two cell lines. Conclusions: Altered response to PteGlu by Caco-2 and MCF7 may reflect a tissue specific disease aetiology or genotype specific differential enzyme activity, for example by DHFR, to critical levels of PteGlu. As folic acid fortification is a blanket intervention, and DHFR and other enzyme activities vary between individuals, PteGlu intake may have an as yet undefined effect on health. These findings may be relevant when considering mandatory folic acid fortification for disease prevention.
- Subject
- folate; Caco-2; MCF7; DHFR; folic acid fortification
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1324232
- Identifier
- uon:24987
- Identifier
- ISSN:2288-3886
- Rights
- © 2016 The Korean Nutrition Society This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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