Blood folate status and expression of proteins involved in immune function, inflammation, and coagulation: biochemical and proteomic changes in the plasma of humans in response to long-term synthetic folic acid supplementation.

We used plasma proteomics to identify human proteins responsive to folate status. Plasma was collected from subjects treated with placebo or 1.2 mg of folic acid daily for 12 weeks in a randomized controlled trial.

Folate, DNA stability and colo-rectal neoplasia.

Lower levels of dietary folate are associated with the development of epithelial cell tumours in man, particularly colo-rectal cancer. In the majority of epidemiological studies blood folate or reported folate intake have been shown to be inversely related to colo-rectal cancer risk. Folate, via its pivotal role in C1 metabolism, is crucial both for DNA synthesis and repair, and for DNA methylation.

Associations between two common variants C677T and A1298C in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene and measures of folate metabolism and DNA stability (strand breaks, misincorporated uracil, and DNA methylation status) in human lymphocytes in vivo.

Objective: Homozygosity for variants of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene is associated with decreased risk for colorectal cancer. We have investigated the relationships between two variants of the MTHFR gene (C677T and A1298C) and blood folate, homocysteine, and genomic stability (strand breakage, misincorporated uracil, and global cytosine methylation in lymphocytes) in a study of 199 subjects.

Results: The frequencies of homozygosity for the C677T and A1298C variants of the MTHFR gene were 12.

Effect of folic Acid supplementation on the folate status of buccal mucosa and lymphocytes.

Folate deficiency may be associated with an increased risk of cancer at certain sites. There is a need to measure folate status and putative biomarkers of cancer risk in the same target tissue, or in surrogate tissues. A study was carried out to develop a method for the rapid measurement of folate in human buccal mucosa and lymphocytes and to evaluate the responsiveness of this measurement in both tissues to folic acid supplementation in healthy subjects, relative to conventional markers of folate status.

Sulforaphane and its glutathione conjugate but not sulforaphane nitrile induce UDP-glucuronosyl transferase (UGT1A1) and glutathione transferase (GSTA1) in cultured cells.

Glucoraphanin in Brassica vegetables breaks down to either sulforaphane or sulforaphane nitrile depending on the conditions, and sulforaphane can be further conjugated with glutathione. Using a high-throughput microtitre plate assay and TaqMan real time quantitative RT-PCR to measure mRNA, we show that sulforaphane and its glutathione conjugate, but not the nitrile, increased significantly (P < 0.05) both UGT1A1 and GSTA1 mRNA levels in HepG2 and HT29 cells.