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Published on: May 20, 2015
Docosahexaenoic Acid Inhibits PTP1B Phosphatase and the Viability of MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells
Alicja Kuban-Jankowska1, Magdalena Gorska-Ponikowska2,3,4, Kamlesh Kumar Sahu5
1Department of Medical Chemistry, Medical University of Gdansk, 1 Debinki St., 80-211 Gdansk, Poland. alicjakuban@gumed.edu.pl.
Background:
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an essential polyunsaturated fatty acid compound present in deep water fishes and dietary supplements, with a wide spectrum of potential health benefits, ranging from neurological to anti-inflammatory.
Methods:
Due to the fact that DHA is considered a breast cancer risk reducer, we examined the impact of DHA on MCF-7 breast cancer cells' viability and its inhibitory properties on protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), a pro-oncogenic phosphatase.
Results:
We found that DHA is able to lower both the enzymatic activity of PTP1B phosphatase and the viability of MCF-7 breast cancer cells. We showed that unsaturated DHA possesses a significantly higher inhibitory activity toward PTP1B in comparison to similar fatty acids. We also performed a computational analysis of DHA binding to PTP1B and discovered that it is able to bind to an allosteric binding site.
Conclusions:
Utilizing both a recombinant enzyme and cellular models, we demonstrated that DHA can be considered a potential pharmacological agent for the prevention of breast cancer.
