Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA.
Cancer Epidemiol. 2012 Feb;36(1):78-81. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2011.05.003. Epub 2011 Oct 21.
Several reports suggest that folate has a procarcinogenic effect. Folate has a unique role because its coenzymes are needed for de novo purine and thymine nucleotide biosynthesis. Antifolates, such as methotrexate, are used in cancer treatment. Using a meta-analysis weighted for the duration of folic acid (pteroylglutamic acid) supplementation, we analyzed the cancer incidence of six previously published large prospective folic acid-supplementation trials in men and women. These articles were carefully selected from over 1100 identified using PubMed search. Our analyses suggest that cancer incidences were higher in the folic acid-supplemented groups than the non-folic acid-supplemented groups (relative risk=1.21 [95% confidence interval: 1.05-1.39]). Folic acid-supplementation trials should be performed with careful monitoring of cancer incidence. Solid monitoring systems to detect side effects, including increase in cancer risk, should be established before the initiation of folic acid supplementation trials.
有几项报告表明叶酸具有致癌作用。叶酸具有独特的作用，因为其辅酶是从头合成嘌呤和胸腺嘧啶核苷酸所必需的。叶酸类似物，如甲氨蝶呤，用于癌症治疗。我们使用基于叶酸（谷氨酸）补充持续时间的荟萃分析加权分析了男性和女性中之前发表的六项大型叶酸补充前瞻性试验的癌症发病率。这些文章是从使用 PubMed 搜索确定的 1100 多篇文章中精心挑选的。我们的分析表明，补充叶酸的组癌症发病率高于未补充叶酸的组（相对风险=1.21 [95%置信区间：1.05-1.39]）。应该在癌症发病率的仔细监测下进行叶酸补充试验。在开始叶酸补充试验之前，应建立有效的监测系统以检测副作用，包括癌症风险的增加。
