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Departments of Epidemiology [A. J. A., G. W. C., K. J. H.] and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology [K. V. S.], Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205; Human Nutrition Research Center, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts 02111 [J. S.]; and Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205 [R. P. V.]
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Interest in the relationship between folate and pathogenesis of cervical cancer extends at least as far back as 1973, when Whitehead et al. (3) reported that administering folic acid reversed megaloblastic changes in the cervical epithelium that were associated with oral contraceptive use, a finding that Butterworth et al. (4) extended to cervical dysplasia in 1982. Preliminary observations such as these, along with an improved understanding of the role of folate, led to the hypothesis that women with low folate levels may have increased susceptibility to cervical cancer.
Several case-control studies have been conducted to investigate the
relation between folate and cervical dysplasia or cervical cancer.
These studies have measured folate in different ways, including dietary
intake and serum or erythrocyte folate concentrations. The findings are
summarized in Table 1
. Two of the four studies of dietary intake and cervical dysplasia found
a dose-response relationship, as did one of the two carcinoma in
situ studies. None of the three investigations of diet and
invasive cervical cancer showed a dose-response association with folate
intake. Those studies of folate levels in serum, plasma, or RBCs have
also had equivocal results. Only one of the five found a protective
association, which was an inverse association between RBC folate and
cervical dysplasia.
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Although the focus has been on folate, the close interrelationship of folate and vitamin B12 in the synthesis, repair, and methylation of DNA suggests that insights might be gained by considering both of these B vitamins. B12 is a cofactor for methionine synthase, which catalyzes the conversion of homocysteine to methionine and also controls cellular folate uptake (16) . Folate also acts as a cofactor for methionine synthase (17) , so both folate and B12 are inversely associated with homocysteine concentrations (17) . Homocysteine, which is produced during methionine metabolism (16) , could be associated with increased risk of cervical cancer as a marker of low folate and B12 levels (18) . The present study was carried out to prospectively assess the risk of cervical cancer in relation to serum folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine using a nested case-control study design.
| Materials and Methods |
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This study is based on the cohort of 11,009 female Washington County residents who were older than 18 years when they donated blood. Fifty of these women were diagnosed with cervical cancer, either in situ or invasive, for the first time between January 1, 1975 and June 1, 1990, slightly more than the number expected from the age- and race-specific rates published by the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registries for 19781981 (19) .
Earlier studies of cervical cancer based on this population concerned other micronutrients (20) and antibodies to the HPV (21) . The sera that remained after completion of these two studies were assayed for folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine. Of the 50 initial cases, sera were available for 39 cases, 13 cases with invasive cervical carcinoma and 26 cases with carcinoma in situ. The inability to include 11 of the 50 cervical cancer cases introduces the potential for bias. Compared with the 39 cases included in the present study, the 11 excluded cases were similar with respect to age, race, education, oral contraceptive use, and hypertensive medication use but were 29% less likely to be cigarette smokers and 73% less likely to be HPV-16 positive at the time of blood donation.
For each case, two controls were identified from cohort members who were not in the cancer register and were not known to have died at the time the case was diagnosed. Controls were matched to cases with respect to age, race (only one case was black), date of blood collection, time between blood drawing and previous meal, and time since last menstrual period. Of the 39 case-control sets included in the present study, 7 had only one matched control with sufficient serum for the assays.
Laboratory Assays.
Aliquots of serum were packed with dry ice in a styrofoam container and
sent to the Human Nutrition Research Center, Tufts University (Boston,
Massachusetts), where they were assayed in case-control sets. Five sets
of quality control specimens from pooled serum were also inserted at
irregular intervals. The following assays were used: (a)
microbiological assay for folate (22)
; (b)
radioimmunoassay using the Bio-Rad Quantaphase II kit for
B12; and (c) the assay method of Araki
and Sato (23)
for homocysteine. Laboratory personnel did
not know the source of the individual serum specimens (case, control,
or quality control). The interset coefficients of variation ranged from
6.88.8%, and the intraset coefficients of variation ranged from
2.46.3%.
The assays for HPV-16 antibodies have been reported in detail elsewhere (21) . Briefly, IgG antibodies to virus-like particles of HPV-16 were measured by ELISA. Seropositivity, indicating current or prior infection with HPV-16, was taken to be an absorbance value of 0.20 or more.
Statistical Analysis.
Serum concentrations were categorized by thirds of the distribution
among the controls. Matched ORs for the middle and high thirds relative
to the low third were estimated using conditional logistic regression
(24)
. The test for dose-response trend was based on the
Likelihood Ratio Test from a conditional logistic regression model with
a single quantitative variable entered, coded as the controls median
serum folate concentration within each third of the distribution. To
assess the joint relationship of folate and B12
on the risk of cervical cancer, each micronutrient concentration was
first classified as high or low based on whether it was at or above the
controls median serum concentration or below the controls median
serum concentration. Then, based on the results for both folate and
B12, the results were categorized as
low/low, low/high, high/low, and high/high.
| Results |
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As expected, serum concentrations of folate and
B12 were positively correlated (r = 0.25; P = 0.03), and both folate and
B12 were negatively correlated with serum
homocysteine concentrations (folate, r = -0.32 and
P < 0.01; B12, r = -0.21 and P = 0.08). Compared with the controls, the
mean serum concentrations of the cases were 2.3% lower for folate
(P = 0.76), 10.3% lower for B12
(P = 0.11), and 10.1% higher for homocysteine
(P = 0.18). Adjusted ORs for folate and
B12 were consistent with an inverse linear
dose-response trend, but neither was statistically significant (Table 2)
. When folate and B12 were jointly assessed with
respect to cervical cancer risk due to their shared metabolic pathway,
the results were similar to when either micronutrient was considered
singly [matched ORs, 1.0 (low/low), 0.92 (high/low or low/high), and
0.58 (high/high)]. Those with the highest serum homocysteine
concentrations had increased risk of cervical cancer, but no monotonic
dose-response trend was present despite the statistical significance of
the trend.
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| Discussion |
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Measurement error needs to be considered in interpreting our results. Oral contraceptive use was measured based on current use at the time of blood donation. HPV infection was determined by serology in the distant past, rather than genotyping HPV types in the cervix, and was limited to HPV-16. Thus, although oral contraceptive use and HPV status were accounted for to some degree, residual confounding due to the misclassification of these factors could still play a role in the observed associations. The likelihood of the limitations in these measures leading to erroneous conclusions is slight, however, given that the associations observed for oral contraceptive use, education, smoking, and HPV-16 infection were in the direction expected based on previous research. Another limitation of the study is that, compared with serum concentrations, measurement of RBC folate is considered a better marker of long-term folate levels (25) . The nondifferential misclassification of folate that could result from the use of serum rather than erythrocyte concentrations would be expected to result in more conservative estimates of the association between folate and cervical cancer than may actually exist. Nevertheless, serum and erythrocyte folate concentrations are highly correlated (7) , and serum folate concentrations are correlated with concentrations in cervical tissue (26) .
Placed in context of the existing evidence, this study adds a piece to the overall puzzle concerning the B vitamins and cervical cancer. This was a prospective investigation, allowing assessment of serum folate, B12, and homocysteine status before the development of cervical cancer. Such prospective data are essential for discerning whether a true association exists and are needed to augment the results of case-control studies in which exposures have been measured after the diagnosis of cervical cancer. A measure of the studys internal validity is that the observed associations for smoking, oral contraceptive use, education, and HPV-16 infection were in the direction expected based on previous research. Clearly, however, more prospective studies are needed to supply the additional pieces to the puzzle that will eventually resolve the role, if any, of the B vitamins in the etiology of cervical cancer.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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1 Supported by National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences Grant ES08030. A. J. A. is a recipient of a
Preventive Oncology Academic Award (CA73790) from the National Cancer
Institute. G. W. C. is a recipient of a Research Career Award from
the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL21670). ![]()
2 To whom requests for reprints should be
addressed, at Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of
Hygiene and Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205.
Telephone: (410) 955-2857; Fax: (410) 614-2632; E-mail: aalberg{at}jhsph.edu ![]()
3 The abbreviations used are: HPV, human
papillomavirus; OR, odds ratio, CL, confidence limits. ![]()
Received 12/ 7/98; revised 3/22/00; accepted 4/12/00.
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