It's hard to draw many conclusions based on just the abstract. Also, remember that this test was only done in vitro. But it's encouraging to know this as I take my giant, daily gel-pill full of fish oil
J Abdi et al., "Omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA induce apoptosis and enhance drug sensitivity in multiple myeloma cells but not in normal peripheral mononuclear cells," Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, September 6, 2014
Abstract:
The n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have been shown to enhance the effect of chemotherapeutic drugs in clinical studies in cancer patients and to induce apoptotic tumor cell death in vitro. Until now, EPA and DHA have never been investigated in multiple myeloma (multiple myeloma). Human myeloma cells (L363, OPM-1, OPM-2 and U266) and normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells were exposed to EPA and DHA, and effects on mitochondrial function and apoptosis, caspase-3 activation, gene expression and drug toxicity were measured. Exposure to EPA and DHA induced apoptosis and increased sensitivity to bortezomib in multiple myeloma cells. Importantly, they did not affect viability of normal human peripheral mononuclear cells. Messenger RNA expression arrays showed that EPA and DHA modulated genes involved in multiple signaling pathways including nuclear factor (NF) κB, Notch, Hedgehog, oxidative stress and Wnt. EPA and DHA inhibited NFκB activity and induced apoptosis through mitochondrial perturbation and caspase-3 activation. Our study suggests that EPA and DHA induce selective cytotoxic effects in multiple myeloma and increase sensitivity to bortezomib and calls for further exploration into a potential application of these n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the therapy of multiple myeloma.
