Abstract
Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) are distinctive polyunsaturated fatty acids. They are present in food produced by ruminant animals and they are accumulated in seeds of certain plants. These naturally occurring substances have demonstrated to have anti-carcinogenic activity. Their potential effect to inhibit cancer has been shown in vivo and in vitro studies. In this review, we present the multiple effects of CLA isomers on cancer development such as anti-tumor efficiency, anti-mutagenic and anti-oxidant activity. Although the majority of the studies in vivo and in vitro summarized in this review have demonstrated beneficial effects of CLA on the proliferation and apoptosis of tumor cells, further experimental work is needed to estimate the true value of CLA as a real anti-cancer agent.
Highlights
Fatty acids are important elements of the human body, having biological, structural and maintenance roles
A group of conjugated fatty acids (CFA), containing 18 carbons and 2 conjugated bonds are known as conjugated linoleic acids (CLA), those having 18 carbons and 3 double bonds are referred to as conjugated linolenic acids (CLNA) and those having 20 carbons and 5 double bonds are conjugated eicosapentaenoic acids (CEPA)
The studies from cell and animal models showed that CLA and individual isomers (c9, t11 and t10, c12) seemed to lack scientific basis, because the results demonstrated in this review showed that different CLA isomers act through different mechanisms and have different effects
Summary
Fatty acids are important elements of the human body, having biological, structural and maintenance roles. The first type includes fatty acids which double bonds are separated by methylene group (-CH2-), all found with cis configuration. This type of naturally occurring fatty acids are known as essential fatty acids. In the second type the double bonds have conjugated bonds and includes fatty acids in multiple positional (9 cis, 11 trans-C18:2 and 10 trans, 12 cis-C18:2) isomers known as conjugated fatty acids (CFA). CLA are naturally occurring isomers of fatty acids found in ruminant animal food products [2]. Processes 2021, 9, 454 reported the effects of CLA (synthetic or natural source) in vivo, demonstrating the CLA inhibition on initiation, promotion and progression of cancer [22].
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