Purpose: Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Tumor cells circulating in the blood evidence the migration of tumor from the site of origin to another site leading to the formation of new metastatic lesion and establishment of metastatic tumors. In the present study, cultured metastatic tumor cells were injected into the C57BL/6 mice through tail-vein injection (TVI) and the anti-metastatic properties of flax seed oil (FSO) were evaluated.
Methods: Pre-administration of FSO in a dose of 0.3 ml/mice/day was performed for 15 days. On 16th and 21st day, mice were challenged with 2x105 /100 μl murine B10 melanoma (YAC-1 suspended in sterile PBS) cells and continued with FSO administration until the end of the experimental period (40 days) to assess the effect on lung metastasis. At the end of experimental period, mice were sacrificed for plasma and lung tissue samples for biochemical and marker studies. Activities of marker enzymes (AST and ALT), enzymic antioxidants (superoxide dismutase/SOD and catalase/CAT), levels of non/enzymic antioxidants (glutathione), oxidation/stress marker (malondialdehyde/MDA) and cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-2, IFN-gamma and MMP-9) were assessed.
Results: Elevated marker enzyme activities in serum and altered enzymic and non-enzymic antioxidants were recovered during FSO treatment. Altered metastatic markers levels favoring the formation of metastatic lesions were observed in the disease group. FSO administration re-altered the levels of these markers in the treatment group contributing to better control of metastasis development.
Conclusion: These results support the protective role of FSO against lung cancer metastasis.