Tissue fatty acid composition in human urothelial carcinoma

Bladder cancer cells appear to have an altered lipid metabolism as evidenced by modulated lipogenic enzymes. The aim of this study is to investigate differences in tissue fat composition between malignant and adjacent normal urinary bladder tissue. Normal-appearing and malignant bladder tissues were collected from 31 patients with high-grade (Ta) urothelial carcinoma during transurethral resection (TUR). The fatty acid composition in the tissue was determined by gas liquid chromatography. In the bladder cancer tissue, levels of stearic acid (18:0; P = 0.01) and oleic acid (18:1n-9; P = 0.03) were higher, and the level of arachidonic aid (20:4n-6; P < 0.001) was lower than that in the normal-appearing bladder. Overall, bladder cancer tissue showed a significant reduction in total n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (-15.1%; P < 0.001). The change in the fatty acid composition may be regarded as an indicator of altered lipid metabolism occurring in vivo during human bladder tumourigenesis.