Rev Oncol 2002;4(2):77-84 77 ORIGINALES Effects of dietary fatty acids on the proliferation, adhesion and metastatic potential of breast cancer cells: an experimental review Javier Abel Menéndez a , María del Mar Barbacid a , Sagrario Montero a , Santiago Ropero a , Eduard Escrich b , Hernán Cortés-Funes a and Ramón Colomer a a Division of Medical Oncology. Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre. Madrid. b Department of Cellular Biology, Physiology, Immunology. Unit of Medical Physiology. The dietary fat hypothesis postulates that dietary or exogenously derived fatty acids play an important role in the carci- nogenesis, evolution and/or progression of breast cancer. In order to reveal pos- sible underlying mechanisms of this hy- pothesis, we studied the influence of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) —α- linolenic (ALA), eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA)—, ω-6 PUFAs —linoleic (LA), γ-linolenic (GLA) and ara- chidonic (ARA)— and monounsaturated ω-9 oleic acid (OA) on the proliferation, adhe- sion and metastatic potential of human breast cancer cells in culture. GLA and the ω-3 PUFAs, ALA and DHA, inhibited significantly the cell growth of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell li- nes, while EPA has less marked inhibitory effects. ω-6 PUFAs, LA and ARA, or ω-9 OA had either no effect or caused a slight increase of proliferation. The attachment of breast cancer cells to the extracellular matrix components (type IV collagen, fibronectin and Matrigel) was s i g n i - ficantly inhibited by ω-6 GLA and ω-3 PU- FAs ALA, DHA and EPA. At concentrations which had no effect on cell growth over the duration of experiments the ω-6 PU- FAs, LA and GLA, and the ω-3 PUFAs, ALA, DHA and EPA, had the ability to in- hibit both cellular migration and invasion into type IV collagen and Matrigel. In summary, our findings in- dicate important differences in the ability of ω-3, ω-6 and ω-9 fatty acids to modulate proli- f e r a t i o n , attachment to extracellular matrix compo- nents, mo-tility and invasiveness of hu- man breast carcinoma cells in vitro, with the GLA and all ω-3 PUFAs being the most effective inhibitors. Our data are consis- tent with the view that the type rather than the amount of dietary fatty acids is be more important in breast cancer develop- ment and progression. Key words: ω-6 fatty acids, ω-3 fatty acids, oleic acid, breast cancer, invasion, metastasis, adhe- sion. Menéndez JA, Barbacid MM, Montero S, Ropero S, Escrich E, Cortés-Funes H, Colomer R. Effects of dietary fatty acids on the proliferation, adhesion and metastasic potential of breast cancer cells: an experimental review. Rev Oncol 2002;4(2):77-84. Efectos de los ácidos grasos de la dieta en la proliferación, adhesión y potencial metastático de las células de cáncer de mama: una revisión experimental Los ácidos grasos exógenos o proceden- tes de la dieta podrían jugar un papel importante en la carcinogénesis, evolución y/o pro- gresión del cáncer de mama. Para estu- diar los posibles mecanismos que subya- cen a esta hipótesis hemos estudiado en cultivo, la influencia de los ácidos grasos poliinsaturados (PUFAs) ω-3 —α-linolénico (ALA), eicosapentaenoico (EPA) y docosa- hexaenoico (DHA)—, los PUFAs ω-6 —lino- leico (LA), γ-linolénico (GLA) y araquidó- nico (ARA)— y el ácido graso monoinsaturado ω-9 ácido oleico (OA) en la proliferación, adhesión y potencial metastásico de las células hu- Correspondence: Dr. R. Colomer. Division of Medical Oncology. Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre. Avda. de Córdoba, km 5,400. 28041 Madrid. E-mail: rcolomer@seom.org Received 25 July 2001; revised 29 October 2001; accepted 15 November