Effect of Folate on Cervical Cancer

After more than 40 years of success using folic acid antagonists for cancer therapy it seems paradoxical to suggest that folic acid deficiency could be related to the etiology of the disease. Yet a growing body of evidence supports such a concept. The important role of folate in DNA synthesis and chromosome repair provides a rational basis for suspecting that folate deficiency could participate as a cocarcinogenic factor during cancer initiation. Thus the idea of preventing the onset of malignant transformation through maintenance of normal folate nutriture is not incompatible with the use of folic acid antagonists to control folate-dependent tumors after initiation and promotion have occurred. The following discussion will focus on etiologic mechanisms and possible synergism among risk factors.