Case Name: Colon Cancer - Pro-Inflammatory Fatty Acid Pattern
Case # 233

Summary:
Test results allow better decisions about the use of polyunsaturated fatty acids for a patient with active malignancy.

colon cancer

K40 Fatty Acids - Plasma

67

M

7/9/2002

History This patient was under treatment for a recently diagnosed colon cancer. Description of Results The fatty acid profile shows the current balance of n-3 and n-6 fatty acids for this patient. Both classes derived from essential fatty acids have patterns showing inadequacy. The n-3 class is especially depleted; ALA is barely above the low limit, EPA is low and the very long chain length member, DHA, is very low. At the same time, linoleic acie is low and the desaturated and elongated derivatives up through DGLA are barelly above the low cutoff. The pro-inflammatory fatty acid, arachidonic acid, however, is almost above the UPPER limit. Thus the well-known pro-inflammatory pattern of eicosanoid precursors is present. Note the elevated AA/EPA ratio. Such a fatty acid status promotes inflamatory cytokinne signals, producing potentially degeneraative oxidative damage from chemotherapeutic agent use. The imbalance also impedes the re-growth of healthy tissue. Vitamin B12 insufficiency is also an indication from the elevated pentadecanoic acid. This relationship derives from the dependency of propionic acid conversion on B12. The 3-carbon short-chain fatty acid is built into odd-numbered members of longer chain length. Recommendations Fish oils and borage of black current oils may be added along with a wide spectrum antioxidant to protect against oxidataive challenge from the increased polyunsaturated fatty intake. Vitamin B12 may be given as an oral supplement or as injectable forms. Other Comments Some studies have shown that cancer patients can benefit from n-3 fatty acid supplementation, but there have been conflicting results in other intervention trials comparing an n-3 supplemented population with a control population. Having individual patient fatty acid results puts the question in an entirely new context. It is no longer a question of statistical relative risk for a population because you are now dealing with the current status of a single patient. In this case, there can hardly be an argument that the patient will benefit from an improved AA/EPA ratio, including reduced risk of further malignancy. Hyper-inflammatory responses produce increased levels of radical oxygen species that highten the initiation phase in neoplaastic etiology.

Lab Data Figure . ColonCa1pFA.gif Figure . ColonCa2pFA.gif