Fish Oil Can Reduce Effectiveness of Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy often lose their effectiveness over time, but it is unclear how or why this happened. Now known that the ineffectiveness of chemotherapy caused by two types of fatty acids produced stem cells in the blood.

Researchers at the University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, have discovered a substance that has adverse effects on almost all types of chemotherapy. This substance makes cancer cells resistant to treatment.

By researchers, the substance is called "PIFA", an abbreviation of platinum-induced fatty acids. Cisplatin is a type of chemotherapy that is widely used for the treatment of cancers, including lung cancer and ovarian. Under the influence of cisplatin chemotherapy, stem cells that secrete PIFA was able to withstand the effects of chemotherapy.


The researchers studied the effects of PIFA in mice and human cells. Studied mice that had tumors under the skin and normally will be reduced after being given chemotherapy. In that study, after given a fatty acid, tumor mice became resistant to chemotherapy.

Fatty acids isolated from the medium exposure of stem cells by chemotherapy increases. But in patients' blood stem cells also produce fatty acids that reduce the effect of chemotherapy against tumors.

These fatty acids are also found in fish oil supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 as well as in some algae extract products. In experiments conducted on mice, the tumors become resistant to chemotherapy after administration of a number of fish oil. And all this time, fish oil products are often used by cancer patients in addition to routine treatment.

Professor Emile Voest, medical oncologist at UMC Utrecht, who oversaw the research said, "In the case of resistance to chemotherapy, we used to believe that there have been changes in cancer cells. Yet our research shows that the body release protective substances into the blood is strong enough to block the effects of chemotherapy. these substances can be found in some types of fish oil ".

The findings were published online on September 12, 2011 in the journal Cancer Cell that chemotherapy is recommended that patients stop taking fish oil supplements.

"While awaiting the results of further research, we recommend that this product should not be used for people who undergo chemotherapy," said Prof. Voest as quoted from esciencenews.com,