Anti-cancer Mechanism of Docosahexaenoic Acid in Pancreatic Carcinogenesis: A Mini-review

Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive malignant tumor of the digestive system and radical resection, which is available to very few patients, might be the only possibility for cure. Since therapeutic choices are limited at the advanced stage, prevention is more important for reducing incidence in high-risk individuals with family history of pancreatic cancer. Epidemiological studies have shown that a high consumption of fish oil or ω3-polyunsaturated fatty acids reduces the risk of pancreatic cancers. Dietary fish oil supplementation has shown to suppress pancreatic cancer development in animal models. Previous experimental studies revealed that several hallmarks of cancer involved in the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer, such as the resistance to apoptosis, hyper-proliferation with abnormal Wnt/β-catenin signaling, expression of pro-angiogenic growth factors, and invasion. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is a ω3-polyunsaturated fatty acid and rich in cold oceanic fish oil. DHA shows anti-cancer activity by inducing oxidative stress and apoptosis, inhibiting Wnt/β-catenin signaling, and decreasing extracellular matrix degradation and expression of pro-angiogenic factors in pancreatic cancer cells. This review will summarize anti-cancer mechanism of DHA in pancreatic carcinogenesis based on the recent studies.