Eating flaxseed may halt prostate cancer growth
04-Jun-2007 - Daily consumption of flaxseed may stop the growth of
prostate cancer tumours, according to research presented this weekend.
Flaxseed, which is rich in omega 3-fatty acids and fibre-related
compounds known as lignans, may interrupt the chain of events that
cause cells to divide irregularly and become cancerous, suggest
researchers from the Duke University Medical Center in the United
States.
"Our previous studies in animals and humans had shown a correlation
between flaxseed supplementation and slowed tumour growth, but the
participants in those studies had taken flaxseed in conjunction with a
low-fat diet," said Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, a researcher in Duke's
School of Nursing and lead investigator on the study.
"For this study, we demonstrated that it is flaxseed that primarily
offers the protective benefit," she confirmed.
The study involved men scheduled to undergo surgery for the treatment
of prostate cancer. The researchers gave them 30 grams of flaxseed
every day for an average of 30 days.
When the men's tumours were removed, the researchers were able to
determine how quickly the cancer cells had multiplied.
The men taking flaxseed, either alone or in conjunction with a low-fat
diet, were compared to men following just a low-fat diet, and men in a
control group, who did not alter or supplement their daily diet. Each
group was made up of about 40 participants.
Men in both of the flaxseed groups had the slowest rate of tumour
growth, according to the researchers.
The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society
of Clinical Oncology in Chicago on Saturday. NutraIngredients.com has
not seen the full results, and publication status is unknown.
"The results showed that the men who took just flaxseed as well as
those who took flaxseed combined with a low-fat diet did the best,
indicating that it is the flaxseed which is making the difference,"
Demark-Wahnefried said.
She suggested that as a source of omega-3 fatty acids, flaxseed may
alter how cancer cells lump together or cling to other body cells. It
could therefore help halt the cellular activity that leads to cancer
growth.
Moreover, lignans may have antiangiogenic properties, meaning they are
able to choke off a tumour's blood supply and stop it spreading, added
the researchers.
Participants took the flaxseed in a ground form to make it more
digestible and mixed it in drinks or sprinkled it on food such as
yogurt.
The researchers now hope to test the effectiveness of flaxseed
supplementation in patients with recurrent prostate cancer.
Over half a million news cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed every
year worldwide, and the cancer is the direct cause of over 200,000
deaths. Most worryingly, the incidence of the disease is increasing
with a rise of 1.7 per cent over 15 years.
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Dietary alpha-linolenic acid reduces COX-2 expression and induces
apoptosis of hepatoma cells
A. Vecchini*, V. Ceccarelli*, F. Susta*, P. Caligiana*, P.
Orvietani*,
L. Binaglia1,*, G. Nocentini, C. Riccardi, G. Calviello, P. Palozza,
N. Maggiano and P. Di Nardo**
* Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Biochemistry,
University
of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of
Pharmacology, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Institute of General Pathology, Catholic University, Rome, Italy
** Department of Internal Medicine, Laboratory of Cellular and
Molecular Cardiology, University of Roma "Tor Vergata," Rome, Italy
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. e-mail:
binag...@unipg.it
Fatty acid synthetase (FAS) is overexpressed in various tumor
tissues,
and its inhibition and/or malonyl-CoA accumulation have been
correlated to apoptosis of tumor cells. It is widely recognized that
both -3 and -6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) depress FAS
expression in liver, although epidemiological and experimental
reports
attribute antitumor properties only to -3 PUFA. Therefore, we
investigated whether lipogenic gene expression in tumor cells is
differently regulated by -6 and -3 PUFAs. Morris hepatoma 3924A cells
were implanted subcutaneously in the hind legs of ACI/T rats
preconditioned with high-lipid diets enriched with linoleic acid or -
linolenic acid. Both-high lipid diets depressed the expression of FAS
and acetyl-CoA carboxylase in tumor tissue, this effect correlating
with a decrease in the mRNA level of their common sterol regulatory
element binding protein-1 transcription factor. Hepatoma cells grown
in rats on either diet did not accumulate malonyl-CoA. Apoptosis of
hepatoma cells was induced by the alpha-linolenic acid-enriched diet
but not by the linoleic acid-enriched diet.
Therefore, in this experimental model, apoptosis is apparently
independent of the inhibition of fatty acid synthesis and of malonyl-
CoA cytotoxicity. Conversely, it was observed that apoptosis induced
by the alpha-linolenic acid-enriched diet correlated with a decrease
in arachidonate content in hepatoma cells and decreased
cyclooxygenase-2 expression.
Abbreviations: ACC, acetyl-CoA carboxylase; C/EBP, CCAAT enhancer
binding protein; COX-2, cyclooxygenase-2; CPT-1, carnitine
palmitoyltransferase-1; FAS, fatty acid synthetase; PPAR, peroxisome
proliferator-activated receptor-; SCAP, sterol regulatory element
binding protein-1 cleavage activating protein; S1P, site-1 protease;
S2P, site-2 protease; SREBP-1, sterol regulatory element binding
protein-1
Supplementary key words cyclooxygenase-2 * polyunsaturated fatty
acids
* sterol regulatory element binding protein 1
Originally published In Press as doi:10.1194/jlr.M300396-JLR200 on
October 16, 2003
Journal of Lipid Research, Vol. 45, 308-316, February 2004
Copyright (c) 2004 by American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology
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Targeting Prostate Cancer 
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