Oxford University Press, The Journal of Nutrition, 5(144), p. 714-721, 2014
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Folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism is essential for DNA synthesis, repair, and methylation. Perturbations in one-carbon metabolism have been implicated in increased risk of some cancers and may also affect inflammatory processes. We investigated these interrelated pathways to understand their relation. The objective was to explore associations between inflammation and biomarkers of nutritional status and one-carbon metabolism. In a cross-sectional study in 1976 women selected from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study, plasma vitamin B-6 [pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP)], plasma vitamin B-12, plasma folate, and RBC folate were measured as nutritional biomarkers; serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) were measured as biomarkers of inflammation; and homocysteine and cysteine were measured as integrated biomarkers of one-carbon metabolism. Student’s t, chi-square, and Spearman rank correlations, along with multiple linear regressions, were used to explore relations between biomarkers; additionally, we tested stratification by folic acid fortification period and multivitamin use. With the use of univariate analysis, plasma PLP was the only nutritional biomarker that was modestly significantly correlated with serum CRP and SAA (ρ = −0.22 and −0.12, respectively; P