Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), one of the fats in evening primrose oil and several other plant oils, inhibits action of Her-2/neu, a cancer gene that is responsible for almost 30 per cent of all breast cancers, reported US researchers yesterday.The team from Northwestern University also found that when they treated breast cancer cells that overexpressed Her-2/neu with GLA there was a 30- to 40-fold increased response in the cells to the drug Herceptin (trastuzumab), a commonly used treatment for this cancer. “In our tests, treating the cancer cell lines with both GLA and Herceptin led to a synergistic increase in apoptosis [cell death] and reduced cancer growth,” said lead author Ruth Lupu, director of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Breast Cancer Translational Research Program. She added that although further studies are necessary before GLA can enter clinical trials, “these findings may reveal a previously unrecognized way of influencing the poor outcome of Her-2/neu-positive cancer patients”.
