THE REVERSIBILITY OF CANCER - EVIDENCE THAT MALIGNANCY IN MELANOMA-CELLS IS GAMMA-LINOLENIC ACID DEFICIENCY-DEPENDENT

  • 1 January 1982
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 62  (15) , 505-509
Abstract
Certain metabolic abnormalities are common to all malignant cells. The underlying cause may be the inability of cancer cells to produce prostaglandin E1 (PGE1). This appears to be due to the lack of the enzyme .delta.-6-desaturase which converts the essential fatty acid, linoleic acid, to .gamma.-linolenic acid (GLA), from which PGE1 is then synthesized. Addition of GLA to cancer cells [mouse melanoma B16 F10 BL6] bypassing the block in the metabolic pathway, results in very marked, statistically highly significant inhibition of growth, while having no effect at all on normal cells. The regression of cancer through such proposed normalization offers preliminary hope for a new effective and harmless approach to the treatment of cancer.