The Effects of Maternal and Postnatal Folic Acid Supplementation on Mammary Tumor Risk in the Offspring in a Chemical Carcinogen Rodent Model

• Main Author: Ly, Anna
• Other Authors: Kim, Young-In
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Folic Acid; Breast Cancer; 0570
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/18824

Intrauterine exposures to environmental factors have been hypothesized to influence the risk of breast cancer in adulthood. The majority of epidemiological studies suggest that dietary folate intake is inversely related to breast cancer, however, the evidence have been inconsistent. An animal study was performed to determine the relationship between in utero and postnatal dietary folate intervention and the risk of breast cancer in the DMBA rodent model. Supplementation of maternal and offspring diet with folic acid (5 mg/kg diet) was observed to significantly increase the risk of mammary tumor development in the offspring compared to controls (2 mg/kg diet). Maternal diet and tumor status were also found to be significant predictors of global DNA methylation. Our data suggests that high intrauterine and postnatal exposures to folic acid increases the risk of breast cancer development. Epigenetic modifications may be an underlying mechanism by which folate mediates mammary tumorigenesis in the offspring.