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Nature Chemical Biology 4, 581–582 (1 October 2008) | doi:10.1038/nchembio1008-581

New mechanism for a classic folate inhibitor

H Alex Brown

Folate, one of the water-soluble forms of vitamin B9, is essential for the synthesis of DNA and RNA. It has long been known that processes involving rapidly proliferating cells, including embryogenesis and cancer, are particularly sensitive to folate levels, and drugs that interfere with folate metabolism, such as methotrexate, are used to treat cancer.