DIETARY FLAXSEED SUPPLEMENTATION AND EXPERIMENTAL METASTASIS OF MELANOMA-CELLS IN MICE

The present study investigated the effect of dietary supplementation o f flaxseed, the richest source of lignans, on experimental metastasis of B16BL6 murine melanoma cells in C57BL/6 mice. Mice were fed a basal diet or the basal diet supplemented with 2.5, 5 or 10% flaxseed for 2 weeks before and after the intravenous injection of 0.75 x 10(5) mela noma cells. At necropsy, the number of tumors that developed in the lu ngs was counted, the cross-sectional area of tumors was measured and t he volumes of tumors were calculated. The median number of tumors in m ice fed the 2.5, 5 and 10% flaxseed-supplemented diets was 32, 54 and 63% lower than that of the controls, respectively. The addition of fla xseed to the diet also caused a dose-dependent decrease in the tumor c ross-sectional area and the tumor volume. These results provide the fi rst experimental evidence that flaxseed reduces metastasis and inhibit s the growth of the metastatic secondary tumors in animals. It is conc luded that flaxseed may be a useful nutritional adjuvant to prevent me tastasis in cancer patients. Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd .