Omega-6 fatty acid promotes the growth of an aggressive type of breast cancer, research is found

Linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid found in seed oil such as soy and safflur oil, and animal products, including pork and eggs, specifically improves the growth of the hard-to-treat “triple negative” subtype breast cancer, according to a pre-clinical study led by Weill Cornell Medicine Investigators. The discovery can lead to new food and pharmaceutical strategies against chest and other cancers.

In the studypublished on March 14 in ScienceThe researchers discovered that linoleic acid can activate an important growthway in tumor cells by binding to a protein called FABP5. By comparing breast cancer subty, the team noted that this activation of the growth paths takes place in triple negative tumor cells, where FABP5 is particularly abundant, but not in other hormone-sensitive subtypes. In a mouse model of triple negative breast cancer, a diet improved with a lot of linoleic acid.

“This discovery helps to clarify the relationship between dietary fats and cancer and raises light on how to determine which patients can most benefit from specific food recommendations in a personalized way,” said senior author Dr. John Blenis, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen professor of cancer research in the Pharmacology department and a member of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Medicine.

Omega-6 linoleic acid is a diet derived from diet that is considered essential in mammals to support multiple physical processes. However, the abundance of this fat in “Western” diets has increased considerably since the 1950s, coinciding with the increased use of seed oil in baked and ultra-processed food.

This has led to worries that excessive omega-6 intake can be one of the explanations for rising percentages of certain diseases, including breast cancer. But for decades of studies have yielded mixed and non-conscious results and have never discovered an organic mechanism that binds omega-6s to cancers.

In the new study, the researchers tried to resolve this confusion by initially looking at breast cancer, which is linked to modifiable factors such as obesity. They looked at the ability of omega-6 fatty acids-in particular linoleic acid, the dominant in the western diet to stimulate an important, nutrients called the MTORC1 route.

An important first finding was that linoleic acid indeed activates Mtorc1 in breast cancer cell and animal models, but only in triple negative subtypes. (The term “triple negative” refers to the absence of three receptors, including estrogen receptors, which are often expressed by breast tumor cells and can be directed with specific treatments.)

The scientists discovered that this subtype-specific effect occurs because it forms polyunsaturated fatty acid a complex with FABP5, which is produced at high levels in triple-negative breast tumors but not in other subtypen, which leads to the assembly and activation of Mtorcellen.

Feeding mice that model triple negative breast cancer, a diet with a high Linolic, raised FABP5 levels, MTORC1 activation and tumor growth. The researchers also found increased levels of FABP5 and linoleic acid in the tumors and blood samples of newly diagnosed Triple-negative patients.

The findings show that linoleic acid can play a role in breast cancer, although in a more focused and defined context than previously appreciated. The study is also considered the first to draw up a specific mechanism, so that this common food ingredient influences the disease.

The relief of the importance of FABP5 in this process also suggests that it could be a good “biomarker” to guide more personalized food and therapeutic interventions for patients with triple negative breast cancer, who is currently no targeted therapy.

The researchers have just started investigating the effects of Omega-6-FABP5-MTORC1 signaling in other diseases, but in the study they showed that the same route can improve the growth of some subtypes of prostate cancer.

“There may be a broader role for FABP5-MTORC1 signaling for other types of cancer and even with common chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes,” said first author Dr. Nikos Koundouros, a postgraduate research employee in the Blenis laboratory.