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Folate is an essential co-factor in the remethylation of homocysteine to methionine, thereby ensuring the supply of S-adenosylmethionine, the methyl group donor for most biological methylations, including that of DNA. Aberrant patterns and dysregulation of DNA methylation are consistent events in carcinogenesis and hence, DNA methylation is considered to be mechanistically related to the development of cancer. Folate deficiency appears to increase the risk of several malignancies, and aberrant DNA methylation has been considered to be a leading mechanism by which folate deficiency enhances carcinogenesis. Although diets deficient in methyl group donors (choline, folate, methionine and vitamin B12) have been consistently observed to induce DNA hypomethylation, the effect of an isolated folate deficiency on DNA methylation remains highly controversial and unresolved. Whether or not isolated folate deficiency can modulate DNA methylation is an important issue because it would establish a mechanistic link between folate deficiency and cancer. We examined the effects of isolated folate deficiency on methionine cycle intermediates, genomic and site-specific DNA methylation and DNA methyltransferase in an in vitro model of folate deficiency, using untransformed NIH/3T3 and CHO-K1 cells, and human HCT116 and Caco-2 colon cancer cells. Our data demonstrate that the effect of folate deficiency on the methionine cycle pathway and DNA methylation in these cells is highly complex and appears to depend on the cell type and stage of transformation, and may be gene and site-specific. The direction of changes of methionine cycle intermediates in response to folate deficiency is not uniformly consistent with the known biochemical effect of folate on the methionine cycle pathway. Moreover, the effect of folate deficiency on DNA methylation appears to be mediated by both methionine cycle intermediate-dependent and independent pathways.

Cell and stage of transformation-specific effects of folate deficiency on methionine cycle intermediates and DNA methylation in an in vitro model