Dietary Fish Oil in Reducing Bone Metastasis of Breast Cancer
Abstract
In a study of the mechanism behind the inhibitory effect of fish oil on the growth of breast cancer cells, the authors reported that fish oil, or w-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), did the following: (1) increased the level of tumor suppressor protein PTEN; (2) inhibited the activity of PI 3 kinase, thus blocking a potent growth promoting signaling pathway; and (3) increased gene expression of BMP-2. In their final report, they show that a fish oil diet significantly increased the signals leading to breast cancer cell apoptosis. The tumors arising within the animals fed a fish oil diet have decreased expression of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 and BclXL, increased expression of cytochrome-c, and activation of caspase 3, indicating increased apoptosis. Results from their in vivo pilot study that used a nude mouse heart injection model suggest that a fish oil diet also can slow down bone metastasis of the breast cancer cells. Based on their previous report, they performed a pilot in vivo experiment to study the role of BMP-2 on bone metastasis. The data suggest that BMP-2 can inhibit bone metastasis. However, the in vivo data need to be verified using a larger animal pool and statistical analysis.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA464007
Entities
People
- Nandini Ghosh-choudhury
Organizations
- University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio