MODULATION OF BREAST-CANCER CELL-ADHESION BY UNSATURATED FATTY-ACIDS

Triglycerides, which are major constituents of dietary fat, contain a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. One newly recognized function of unsaturated fatty acids is modulation of cell adhesion to components of the extracellular matrix. Alterations in cell adhesiven ess or cell adhesion molecule expression accompany the onset of a numb er of diseases including arthritis, atherosclerosis. and cancer. Cell adhesion is necessary for the metastatic spread of cancer cells to new organs. Circulating cancer cells adhere to endothelial cells and the underlying subendothelial basement membrane as an initial step in the process of invading target organs during metastasis. Several recent st udies have provided convincing evidence that unsaturated fatty acids a nd their metabolites influence adhesion of cultured human cancer cells to individual components of the basement membrane. These unsaturated fatty acid effects appear to be dependent in some instances on the exp ression of specific cell surface adhesion molecules. Unsaturated fatty acids influence the development of metastases in animal tumor models by largely unexplored mechanisms: the possibility that cell adhesion i s involved in this process has not been thoroughly investigated. Futur e studies of unsaturated fatty acid effects on cell adhesion molecule expression in breast cancer patients should reveal the clinical releva nce of the studies reviewed here. (C) Elsevier Science Inc.