Author: Vishnevskaya Karina
Translator: Turarova Aiym
Editor: Kigbaeva Kamila
A fatty acid called dihomogamma linolenic acid (DGLA) is known to kill human cancer cells. A study with worms and human cells has shown that acid induces ferroptosis (a type of programmed iron-dependent cell death).
DGLA is a polyunsaturated fatty acid that is found in small amounts in the human body, but is rarely found in the diet. Scientists have studied dietary fats, including DGLA, for nearly twenty years using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (roundworm) as an animal model.
Feeding nematodes on a diet of bacteria "loaded with DGLA" killed all germ cells in the worms, as well as the stem cells that form the germ cells. This method of cell death carried many signs of ferroptosis.
Later, it was proved that DGLA causes ferroptosis in human cancer cells, which can significantly change the approach to the treatment of cancer, according to the authors of the work.
Source: http://www.meddaily.ru/article/13jul2020/dglaferropt
