title: Differential sensitivity of tumorigenic and genetically related non-tumorigenic cells to cytotoxic polyunsaturated fatty acids.
abstract: A series of closely related rat brain cell lines that differ in their ability to form tumors has been used to investigate the selectivity of cytotoxic polyunsaturated fatty acids. The colony-formation ability of tumorigenic F4 cells was markedly reduced when the cells were challenged with GLA and EPA. In contrast, the non-tumorigenic revertants were less affected. All retransformed tumorigenic variants exposed to GLA were as sensitive as their parental tumorigenic cells and more sensitive than the non-tumorigenic clones. However, two out of three retransformed tumorigenic variants exposed to EPA were less sensitive than either the parental tumorigenic or non-tumorigenic clones. The addition of ferrous chloride to the culture medium increased the cytotoxicity of GLA in tumorigenic but not in non-tumorigenic variants. These results suggest that tumorigenicity per se is characterized by a high sensitivity to PUFAs exogenously administered at appropriate concentrations and that the sensitivity is fatty acid specific.
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Qc, Canada.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bégin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sircar
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Weber
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001932:Brain Neoplasms; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects*; D002999:Clone Cells; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008042:Linolenic Acids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D013724:Teratoma; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D014410:Tumor Stem Cell Assay; D017965:gamma-Linolenic Acid
chemical_list: D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D008042:Linolenic Acids; D017965:gamma-Linolenic Acid; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid