Cytotoxicity and genotoxicity evaluations of oleic acid and conjugated linoleic acid

Abstract

Background and Aims: Oleic acid (OLA) and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) occur in dairy products and meats and are also widespread at lower levels in many other foodstuffs. It is known that OLA and CLA are very bioactive compounds with substantially anti-carcinogenic effects. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic potentials of OLA and CLA which were tested against cancerous and non-cancerous cell lines and to determine their genotoxicity. Methods: The cytotoxic activities of OLA and CLA against to cancer cell lines (U-87-MG, A549, MCF-7, CaCo-2, HeLa and PC3) and a control cell line (HEK293) were assessed by MTT assay. Ames MPFtm mutagenicity assay on 4 strains (TA98, TA100, TA 1535 and TA 1537) of Salmonella typhimurium was used for genotoxicity determination. Results: CLA showed cytotoxic activity on PC-3 cells, while OLA was created on A549 and PC-3 cell lines with the IC50 of 20 nM and 15 nM, respectively. No cytotoxic activity was observed on MCF-7, HeLa, U-87-MG, and CaCo-2 cells with the administered doses of OLA and CLA. It has been proved that OLA and CLA are characterized by a high cytotoxic activity towards cancer cells, as observed in the cell line test. There was no evidence for a mutagenic effect of OLA and CLA in the Ames test, with or without metabolic activation (S9) against Salmonella typhimurium strains. Conclusion: These in vitro test results indicate that these fatty acids can be considered a beneficial dietary supplement for enhancing anti-cancer therapy.