ArticlePloS one2012
Paradoxical impact of two folate receptors, FRα and RFC, in ovarian cancer: effect on cell proliferation, invasion and clinical outcome.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 102 citations in OpenAlex.
- Chemotherapy resistance and risk stratification in gestational trophoblastic neoplasia: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2026Review
- Mirvetuximab soravtansine in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer: from biological rationale to clinical impact and future directions.International journal of clinical oncology · 2026Review
- Review
- Breast Cancer Progression and Its Theranostic Management via Folate-Directed Targeting of Glycoprotein Receptor.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Results of the First Folate Receptor Alpha Testing Trial by the German Quality Assurance Initiative in Pathology (QuIPCancers · 2025Article
- The efficacy and safety of mirvetuximab soravtansine for the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer: an update systematic review and meta-analysis.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- Balancing the scales: folic acid and vitamin B12 in the aggressiveness of hepatocellular carcinoma.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2025Article
- Review
- A review of mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx in folate receptor alpha-expressing platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.American journal of health-system pharmacy : AJHP : official journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists · 2025Review
- Patient outcomes in advanced ovarian cancer treated with an anti-FOLR1 antibody-drug conjugate.Gynecologic oncology · 2025Article
- Development and evaluation of a single domain antibody targeting folate receptor alpha for radioligand therapy.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2024Article
- Near-infrared fluorescent molecular probes with cetuximab in the in vivo fluorescence imaging for epithelial ovarian cancer.Journal of ovarian research · 2024Article
- Deciphering Folate Receptor alphaGene Expression and mRNA Signatures in Ovarian Cancer: Implications for Precision Therapies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Folate Receptor Alpha-A Secret Weapon in Ovarian Cancer Treatment?International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Review
- CAR-T Cell Therapy in Ovarian Cancer: Where Are We Now?Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Loss of mitochondrial pyruvate carrier 1 supports proline-dependent proliferation and collagen biosynthesis in ovarian cancer.Molecular metabolism · 2024Article
- Blood FOLR3 methylation dysregulations and heterogeneity in non-small lung cancer highlight its strong associations with lung squamous carcinoma.Respiratory research · 2024Article
- Folate Receptor Alpha-A Novel Approach to Cancer Therapy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Folate receptor overexpression induces toxicity in a diet-dependent manner in C. elegans.Scientific reports · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Despite being an essential vitamin, folate has been implicated to enhance tumor growth, as evidenced by reports on overexpression of folate receptor alpha (FRα) in carcinomas. The role of another folate transporter, reduced folate carrier (RFC), is largely unknown. This study investigated the roles of folate, FRα and RFC in ovarian cancers. We demonstrated FRα mRNA and protein overexpression and reduced RFC expression in association with FRα gene amplification and RFC promoter hypermethylation, respectively. FRα overexpression was associated with tumor progression while RFC expression incurred a favorable clinical outcome. Such reciprocal expression pattern was also observed in ovarian cancer cell lines. Folate was shown to promote cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro, and down-regulate E-cadherin expression. This effect was blocked after either stable knockdown of FRα or ectopic overexpression of RFC. This hitherto unreported phenomenon suggests that, RFC can serve as a balancing partner of FRα and confer a protective effect in patients with high FRα-expressing ovarian carcinomas, as evidenced by their prolonged overall and disease-free survivals. In conclusion, we report on the paradoxical impact of FRα (putative oncogenic) and RFC (putative tumor suppressive) in human malignancies. FRα and RFC may potentially be explored as therapeutic target or prognostic marker respectively. We recommend caution and additional research on folate supplements in cancer patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.