Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation – A possible dietary adjunct to enhance immune checkpoint inhibition therapy in cancer?

Article type: Short Communication

Authors: Wachtel, Nikolaus^{a; b} | Rohwer, Nadine^a | Pietzner, Anne^c | Loew, Andreas^c | Weylandt, Karsten H.^{a; c; *}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Medical, Division of Gastroenterology, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany | [b] Division of Hand, Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany | [c] Department of Medical, Division of Gastroenterology, Oncology, Hematology, Rheumatology and Diabetes, Ruppiner Kliniken, Brandenburg Medical School, Neuruppin, Germany

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Karsten H. Weylandt, Medizinische Klinik B, Campus Ruppiner Kliniken, Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg, Fehrbelliner Str. 38, 16816 Neuruppin, Germany. Tel.: +49 3391 39 3210; Fax: +49 3391 39 3202; E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) have been found to be modulators of immune function. Additionally, they may affect the growth of colorectal cancer (CRC). With the advent of novel treatment approaches in oncology targeting immune checkpoint inhibition and aiming to boost the immune response against tumors the exact role of n-3 and n-6 PUFA in inflammation as well as in CRC needs to be re-evaluated in order to understand potential interactions with these new treatment options. Interestingly, for the cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitor aspirin a possible synergistic effect together with an anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (anti-PD-1) antibody has been shown. However, could high n-3 PUFA be disadvantageous in the context of immune therapy due to an immune suppressive effect that has been described for these fatty acids in the past, or could they also enhance the effect of immune checkpoint inhibition? In this paper, we explore this topic and show in a small experimental series that incubation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with the n-3 PUFA docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) significantly decreases CRC-cell supernatant-triggered secretion of IL-10 and increases secretion TNF-α, while the n-6 PUFA arachidonic acid (AA) reduced TNF-α secretion. These changes in cytokine secretion upon incubation with DHA thus indicate a possible enhancing effect of n-3 PUFA on an anti-tumor immune response.

Keywords: Omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, colorectal cancer, Cancer Immune Therapy

DOI: 10.3233/JCB-180013

Journal: Journal of Cellular Biotechnology, vol. 4, no. 1-2, pp. 83-88, 2018