Effects Of Gene Transfer Of C.Elegans Fat-1 On The Growth And Apoptosis Of Human Gastric Cancer Cells

Objective: To investigate the effects of gene transfer of C.elegans n-3 fatty acid desaturase on the growth and apoptosis of human gastric cancer cells.Methods: Strategies of plasmid construction were used to introduce the C.elegans fat-1 gene encoding an n-3 fatty acid desaturase into human gastric cancer cells followed by examination of the n-6/n-3 fatty acid ratio and growth of the cells.Results: Infection of SGC7901 cells with with a plasmid carrying the fat-1 gene resulted in a high expression of the n-3 fatty acid desaturase of n-3 PUFAs accompanied with a large decrease in the contents of n-6 PUFAs, leading to a change of the n-6/n-3 ratio from 12.0 to 0.8.Accordingly,production of the eicosanoids derived from n-6 PUFAs was reduced significantly in cells expressing the fat-1 gene. Importantly, the gene transfer induced mass cell death and inhibited cell proliferation.Conclusion: The gene transfer of the n-3 fatty acid desaturase, as a novel approach,can effectively modify the n-6/n-3 fatty acid ratio of human tumor cells and provide an anticancer effect. These data also increase the understanding of the effects of n-3 fatty acids and the n-6/n-3 ratio on cancer prevention treatment.