Table 1.
(Pre)Clinical evidence on the effects of specific fatty acids in the context of cancer progression and metastasis, as well as inflammation.
| Type of Fatty Acid | Common Name | Lipid Name | Chemical Name | Preclinical Evidence of Effects on Tumor Cells | (Pre)Clinical Evidence of Pro- and Anti-Inflammatory Effects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFA | Myristic acid | 14:00 | Tetradecanoic acid | Post-translational protein myristoylation [37] | |
| Palmitic acid | 16:00 | Hexadecanoic acid | Post-translational protein palmitoylation [38] Promote cancer incidence and proliferation [39] Stimulate metastasis [40] Epigenetic regulation [40] |
Trigger pro-inflammatory macrophage activation [41] Trigger TLR4 pro-inflammatory signaling [42,43,44] Trigger NF-κB pro-inflammatory signaling [39,45] Promote pro-inflammatory signaling [39] |
|
| MUFA | Palmitoleic acid | 16:1 (n-9) | Palmitoleate | Suppress pro-inflammatory macrophage activation [46] Reduce HIF-1α expression [46] |
|
| Oleic acid | 18:1 (n-9) | Octadecenoic acid | Promote cancer cell proliferation [47,48] Reduce cancer cell proliferation [49,50,51] Stimulate cancer cell migration [47] Reduce metastasis [51] Increase angiogenesis [48] |
Reduce pro-inflammatory signaling [52,53,54,55] | |
| n3 PUFA | Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) | 20:5 (n-3) | all-cis-5,8,11,14,17 eicosapentaenoic acid | Induce excessive oxidative stress [56] | Reduce pro-inflammatory signaling [57,58,59,60,61] |
| Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, Cervonic acid) | 22:6 (n-3) | all-cis-4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoic acid | Induce excessive oxidative stress [62] Induce cancer cell ferroptosis [62] Induce apoptosis via epigenetic regulation [63] |
Reduce pro-inflammatory signaling [57,58,59,60,61] | |
| n6 PUFA | Linoleic acid (LA) | 18:2 (n-6) | all-cis-9,12-octadecadienoic acid | Increase cancer cell proliferation [64] Reduce cancer cell apoptosis [65] Induce cancer cell apoptosis [66,67,68] Induce epigenetic alterations [69] |
|
| Arachidonic acid (ARA) | 20:4 (n-6) | all-cis-5,8,11,14-eicosatetraenoic acid | Increase cancer cell proliferation [64] Reduce cancer cell apoptosis [65] Stimulate metastasis [64] |
Stimulate inflammation [70,71,72] Induce an immuno-suppressive tumor micro-environment [72] |
|
| iTFA | Elaidic acid | t18:1 (n-9) | Octadecenoic acid | Decrease survival time [73,74] Stimulate cancer cell proliferation [75] Stimulate invasion [75] Stimulate metastasis [75,76,77] |
|
| rTFA | Trans-palmitoleic acid | t16:1 (n-7) | 9-Hexadecenoic acid | Reduce pro-inflammatory signaling [78] | |
| Trans-vaccinic acid | t18:1 (n-11) | trans-11-Octadecenoic acid | Reduce pro-inflammatory signaling [78] | ||
| Trans-10, cis-12-conjugated linoleic acid (trans,cis CLA) | t18:2 (n-6) | 10E,12Z-octadeca-10,12-dienoic acid | Increase cancer cell apoptosis [79] Suppress cancer cell proliferation [79] Increase cancer cell proliferation [80,81,82] Induce anti-metastatic properties [83,84,85] Stimulate metastasis [81] |
Reduce pro-inflammatory signaling [86,87] | |
| cis9, trans11-conjugated linoleic acid (cis,trans CLA) | t18:2 (n-6) | 9E,11Z-octadeca-9,11-dienoic acid | Increase apoptosis [79] Suppress proliferation [79] Increase proliferation [80] Induce anti-metastatic properties [83,84,85] |
Reduce pro-inflammatory signaling [86,87] | |
| SCFA | Acetic acid | 02:00 | Ethanoic acid | Histone deacetylase inhibition [88] | Reduce pro-inflammatory signaling [89,90] |
| Propionic acid | 03:00 | propanoic acid | Histone deacetylase inhibition [88] | Suppress systemic inflammation via microbiota changes [88] Reduce pro-inflammatory signaling [91] |
|
| Butyric acid | 04:00 | Butanoic acid | Histone deacetylase inhibition [88,92,93] Suppress cancer cell proliferation [94,95] Trigger apoptosis of cancer cells [93,96,97] Induce anti-metastatic properties [98] Induce epigenetic alterations [63] |
Improve intestinal barrier function [99,100,101] Trigger anti-inflammatory immune cells [89,102] Suppress pro-inflammatory immune cells [89,102,103] |
Abbreviations: CLA, conjugated linoleic acid, iTFAs, HIF-1α, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α, industrial trans-fatty acids, MUFAs, mono-unsaturated fatty acids; NF-κB, nuclear factor κB, n-3 and n-6 PUFAs, omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, rTFAs, ruminant trans-fatty acids; SCFAs, short-chain fatty acids; SFA, saturated fatty acids, TLR4 toll like receptor 4 (TLR4).