Folic acid (Folacin, Vitamin B9, Vitamin M, Pteroylglutamic acid, Folate), a B vitamin, plays an important role in cell division and in the synthesis of amino acids and nucleic acids like DNA.
Folic acid treatment induces dose-related increases in BRCA1 mRNA expression in HepG2, Huh-7D12, Hs578T, and JURKAT and in BRCA2 in HepG2, Hs578T, MCF7, and MDA-MB-157 cells. FA does not affect the corresponding normal cells or on any of the ovarian cell lines. Folic acid induces increased BRCA1 protein expression in Hs578T, but not HepG2 cells, whereas BRCA2 protein levels are undetectable. FA treatment does not alter DNA repair in liver-derived cells, whereas there are transient effects on breast-derived cells. There is no effect of FA treatment on BRCA1 or BRCA2 DNA methylation, although there is some variation in the methylation of specific CpG loci between some cell lines.