KN Leung
The Chinese University of Hong Kong ,China
Title: Conjugated Linolenic Acid as a Functional Food: Studies on Its Anti-tumor and Anti-allergic Activities
Biography
Biography: KN Leung
Abstract
Conjugated linolenic acids (CLN) are a group of positional and geometrical isomers of linolenic acid (C18:3) having three conjugated double bonds, which are relatively abundant in some plant seed oils. Recent researches have demonstrated the diverse health-promoting properties of CLN, including anti-obese, antioxidative, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor activities. In this study, jacaric acid (8Z, 10E, 12Z-octadecatrienoic acid), a CLN isomer that is present in jacaranda seed oil, was found to inhibit the in vitro and in vivo growth of the human promyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cells, with little or no cytotoxicity towards normal cells. Mechanistic studies indicated that jacaric acid could trigger apoptosis in the HL-60 cells by inducing mitochondrial membrane depolarization, modulating the expression of apoptosis-regulatory proteins, inducing the release of mitochondrial cytochrome c, and by differential activation of caspase-3 and -9 but not caspase-8 activities in HL-60 cells. Interestingly, jacaric acid could alleviate the allergic response in a human mast cell line HMC-1 by suppressing the release of β-N-acetylglucosaminidase, tryptase and cytokines such as interleukin-4 and -13 in sensitized HMC-1 cells. Moreover, the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins were down-regulated in jacaric acid-treated HMC-1 cells whereas the expression of TIMP1 protein was increased. Taken together, our results indicate that jacaric acid can exhibit significant anti-tumor and anti-allergic activities on human cells and therefore might be a potential functional food for the management or as an adjunct therapy for some forms of myeloid leukemia and allergic disorders.