Effect of polyunsaturated fatty acids on proliferation and survival of prostate cancer cells
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Dietary Supplementation of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: November 29, 2013
Brenden A Bratton1, Ivan V Maly1, Wilma A Hofmann1
1Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States of America.
Abstract:
Progression of prostate cancer to lethal forms is marked by emergence of hormone-independent proliferation of the cancer cells. Nutritional and epidemiological studies have indicated that prostate cancer progression is correlated with the consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). To shed additional light on the cell-level mechanisms of the observed correlation, we compared the sensitivity of hormone-dependent and hormone-independent prostate cancer cells to growth medium supplementation with free PUFAs in a cell proliferation and viability assay. Our data show that the hormone-dependent cells are comparatively insensitive to various PUFAs, at the same time as the growth and viability of hormone-independent cells lines are strongly inhibited by most of the tested PUFAs, whether n-3 or n-6. We speculate that this difference may be at least partially responsible for the observed effects of specific dietary lipids in prostate cancer. The new data strengthen the case for dietary intervention as part of potential new therapeutic strategies seeking to impede prostate cancer progression.
Related Concept Videos
Cancer Survival Analysis
Overview of Fatty Acid Metabolism
Fatty acids are catabolized in a process called beta-oxidation, which takes place in the matrix of the mitochondria and converts their fatty acid chains into two-carbon units of acetyl groups. The acetyl...
Cells Coordinate Growth and Proliferation
Abnormal Proliferation
Survival Tree
Building a Survival Tree
Constructing a...
Survival Curves
The Kaplan-Meier estimator is the most common method for constructing survival curves. This...

