Effects of docosahexaenoic acid on the growth and apoptosis of human pancreatic cancer cell lines

Objective To investigate the effects of docosahexaenoic acid(DHA) on the growth and apoptosis of human pancreatic cancer cell lines.Methods Human pancreatic cancer cell lines Patu8988 and SW1990 were treated with DHA.The inhibition of cell proliferation was evaluated by MTT assay.Cell cycle,apoptosis induction and cyclooxygenase expression were detected by flow cytometry.Results After incubation of pancreatic cancer cells with DHA 50 μg/ml,cell proliferation rates of Patu8988 and SW1990 were (46.89±5.99) and (46.03±7.69) at 24 h and (35.92±2.91) and (25.70±5.60) at 48 h.The proliferation of tumor cells was suppressed obviously(P0.01).Apoptosis was promoted in time-and dose-dependent manner.The cells at G0-G1 phase were increased,whereas those at S phase significantly decreased.After cultured with DHA for 24 h,the expressions of Bcl-2 protein for Patu8988 and SW1990 were significantly lower than those in control group(P0.05).Conclusion DHA can inhibit the cell proliferation and induce apoptosis by down-regulating the expression of Bcl-2 protein.