Influence of omega-3 fatty acids on the growth of human colon carcinoma in nude mice

Kato, Taeko; Hancock, R.L.; Mohammadpour, Hamid; McGregor, Byron; Manalo, Pacita; Khaiboullina, Svetlana; Hall, Mark R.; Pardini, Lani; Pardini, Ronald S.

doi:10.1016/S0304-3835(02)00432-9

« Previous Next »Cancer Letters
Volume 187, Issue 1 , Pages 169-177, 10 December 2002

Influence of omega-3 fatty acids on the growth of human colon carcinoma in nude mice

Taeko Kato
- Department of Biochemistry, College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
- Allie M. Lee Cancer Research Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
R.L. Hancock
- Department of Biochemistry, College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
- Allie M. Lee Cancer Research Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Hamid Mohammadpour
- Department of Surgery, University of Nevada School of Medicine and VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Byron McGregor
- Department of Surgery, University of Nevada School of Medicine and VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Pacita Manalo
- Department of Pathology, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Svetlana Khaiboullina
- Department of Microbiology, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Mark R. Hall
- Department of Microbiology, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV 89557, USA
- Department of Animal Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Lani Pardini
- Department of Biochemistry, College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
- Allie M. Lee Cancer Research Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Ronald S. Pardini
- Department of Biochemistry, College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
- Allie M. Lee Cancer Research Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-775-784-4107

Received 18 January 2002; received in revised form 26 June 2002; accepted 8 July 2002.

Abstract

The present study investigated the influence of dietary omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on the growth of human colon carcinoma xenograft in athymic nude mice. Four diets were fed to evaluate the effect of levels and types of fat on colon tumor growth. Animals were maintained on a standard diet modified by addition of fats containing omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids to represent high and low fat intakes for 53 days. The final mean estimated tumor weight for the high fat corn oil (24%) fed group was 2302mg, whereas the low fat (8% corn oil) group was 1681mg. The final mean tumor weight of the high fat menhaden oil fed group was 782mg representing a 66% decrease in growth compared to the high fat corn oil group and a decrease of 54% compared to the low corn oil fed group. The high fat golden algae oil fed group resulted in a mean final tumor weight of 223mg representing a 90% inhibition of tumor growth relative to the high fat corn oil fed group and 87% inhibition of growth compared to the low fat corn oil fed group. These findings indicate that dietary omega-3 fatty acids possess significant tumor suppressing properties and that the primary tumor suppressing fatty acid is docosahexaenoic acid. Histopathologic examination of control and treated tumors and expression array analyses (human cytokine and apoptosis arrays) support the tumor growth inhibition data and provide evidence for discussion of possible mechanisms for the observed growth inhibition.