From bench to the clinic: gamma-linolenic acid therapy of human gliomas

Abstract

Malignant gliomas are among the most devastating of cancers and are a major cause of mortality in a young population with a median survival time of 9 months following cytoreductive surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Recent studies showed that polyunsaturated fatty acids especially gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) have selective tumoricidal action especially against malignant glioma cells both in vitro and in vivo. Limited open label clinical studies showed that intratumoral injection/infusion of GLA is safe and effective against malignant gliomas. In view of this, large-scale, double blind studies are needed to establish the usefulness of GLA in the treatment of malignant brain tumors.