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Review
. 2022 May 27;23(11):6030.
doi: 10.3390/ijms23116030.

Critical Review on Fatty Acid-Based Food and Nutraceuticals as Supporting Therapy in Cancer

Carla Ferreri  1 , Anna Sansone  1 , Chryssostomos Chatgilialoglu  1 , Rosaria Ferreri  2 , Javier Amézaga  3 , Mercedes Caro Burgos  3 , Sara Arranz  3 , Itziar Tueros  3
Affiliations
Review

Critical Review on Fatty Acid-Based Food and Nutraceuticals as Supporting Therapy in Cancer

Carla Ferreri et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Fatty acids have an important place in both biological and nutritional contexts and, from a clinical point of view, they have known consequences for diseases' onset and development, including cancer. The use of fatty acid-based food and nutraceuticals to support cancer therapy is a multidisciplinary subject, involving molecular and clinical research. Knowledge regarding polyunsaturated fatty acids essentiality/oxidizability and the role of lipogenesis-desaturase pathways for cell growth, as well as oxidative reactivity in cancer cells, are discussed, since they can drive the choice of fatty acids using their multiple roles to support antitumoral drug activity. The central role of membrane fatty acid composition is highlighted for the application of membrane lipid therapy. As fatty acids are also known as biomarkers of cancer onset and progression, the personalization of the fatty acid-based therapy is also possible, taking into account other important factors such as formulation, bioavailability and the distribution of the supplementation. A holistic approach emerges combining nutra- and pharma-strategies in an appropriate manner, to develop further knowledge and applications in cancer therapy.

Keywords: anticancer strategy; dietary fatty acids; fatty acid signaling; membrane fatty acids; membrane lipidomics; precision nutraceuticals.

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Conflict of interest statement

C.F. and C.C. are co-founders of the spin-off company Lipinutragen srl (Bologna, Italy) which is involved in membrane lipidomics. Lipinutragen had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Formation of unsaturated fatty acids: (left) biosynthetic pathways of MUFA starting from palmitic acid (SFA); (center) the omega-6 PUFA biosynthesis starting from linoleic acid; (right) the omega-3 PUFA biosynthesis starting from alpha-linolenic acid. Enzymes: ELO elongase; Δ5-, Δ6-, and Δ9-desaturase; β-oxidase. Numerical abbreviations describing the position and geometry of the double bonds (e.g., 9c), the notation of the carbon chain length and total number of double bonds (e.g., C18:2); in parenthesis, the used acronyms (e.g., ARA for arachidonic acid). Reprinted from Ref. [10]. Copyright year 2022, Ferreri et al.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Palmitic acid transformations by delta-9 and delta-6 desaturase enzymes. Positional isomers formation from delta-9 and delta-6 desaturase activities on palmitic acid: sapienic acid has the same molecular mass of palmitoleic acid (m/z = 254 or their methyl esters m/z = 268). For low PUFA intakes, delta-6 desaturase can enter in the transformation of palmitic acid to sapienic acid which is a n-10 fatty acid not belonging to the usual metabolism of saturated fatty acids.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The balance among omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in membranes for the generation of signaling molecules upon release from membrane phospholipids.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The remodeling mechanism for membrane phospholipid turnover.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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