Background: In advanced stages, Colorectal cancer remains often refractory to classic therapies. In consequence, search for new therapeutic modalities with minimal toxicity is of particular interest in colon cancer management. In this regard, powerful growth-inhibitory effect has been shown for fish-oil derived Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) against cancer cells. In the present study, we evaluated the anti-cancer effect of EPA and DHA (n3-polyunsaturated fatty acids, n3-PUFAs) on the human colorectal cancer cell line (LS174T) on a dose-response and time-course ba-sis. Methods: LS174T cells were cultured in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum at 37 ºC in a humidified incubator. Cancer cells were treated to vari-ous concentrations of EPA and DHA (50, 100, 150 µM/L) and incubated for 24-72 hours. Following treatments, dose-response and time-course cytotoxicity using viability and MTT assays were performed. Results: Viability analysis showed that 150 µM/L PUFAs decreased significantly the proliferation of treated cells, as compared to untreated cells. In this regard, cell viabil-ities were found to be %31±%5.1 and %30±%2.6 for DHA and EPA respectively. Moreover, treatment of cells with increasing concentrations of EPA and DHA signifi-cantly decreased growth rates in a dose-and time-dependent manner. Following 72 hours treatments with 150 µM/L PUFAs, growth rates were found to be %19±%5.5 and %20±%5 for DHA and EPA relative to untreated cells respectively. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that n3-PUFAs decrease cell proliferation and could provide new approaches in malignant tumor therapeutic strategies.

Keywords: colorectal neoplasm, docosahexaenoic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, fatty acid

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