Evening Primrose Oil & Cancer
Published Clinical Papers & Reviews in Reputable Journals

1. Das U. A radical approach to cancer. Med Sci Monit. 2002 Apr;8(4):RA79-92.
PMID:11951081 (PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE)

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) inhibit SODs and cause an increase of O2(-*) in tumor cells leading to their death.
Thus, PUFAs or their derivatives may offer a new radical approach to the treatment of cancer.

2. Ramesh G, Das UN, Koratkar R, Padma M, Sagar PS. Effect of essential fatty acids on tumor cells. Nutrition. 1992 Sep-Oct;8(5):343-7.
PMID: 1330107 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

An earlier study showed that essential fatty acids and their metabolites can kill tumor cells in vitro.
We report that EPO can kill tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo.

3. Ramesh G, Das UN. Effect of evening primrose and fish oils on two stage skin carcinogenesis in mice. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 1998 Sep;59(3):155-61.
PMID: 9844986 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Both FO and EPO inhibited the binding of benzo(a)-pyrene to skin cell DNA suggesting that this could be one of the mechanism(s) by which these oils could be preventing papilloma development.

4. Das UN, Madhavi N, Sravan Kumar G, Padma M, Sangeetha P. Can tumour cell drug resistance be reversed by essential fatty acids and their metabolites? Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 1998 Jan;58(1):39-54.
PMID: 9482165 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Tumour cell drug resistance is a major problem in cancer chemotherapy. Essential fatty acids have been shown to be cytotoxic to a variety of tumour cells in vitro.
Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) of the n-6 series and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) of the n-3 series potentiated the cytotoxicity of anti-cancer drugs: vincristine, cis-platinum and doxorubicin on human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cells in vitro.

 5. Das UN. Gamma-linolenic acid, arachidonic acid, and eicosapentaenoic acid as potential anticancer drugs. Nutrition. 1990 Nov-Dec;6(6):429-34.
PMID: 1966883 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Some cis-unsaturated fatty acids (c-UFAs) such as gamma-linolenic acid, arachidonic acid, and eicosapentaenoic acid have selective tumoricidal actions.
This evidence, coupled with the observation that the cancer incidence is low in Eskimos on traditionally high-c-UFA diets, suggests that c-UFAs can be exploited as possible anticancer agents either alone or in combination with lymphokines and cancer chemotherapy.

6. Padma M, Das UN. Effect of cis-unsaturated fatty acids on cellular oxidant stress in macrophage tumor (AK-5) cells in vitro. Cancer Lett. 1996 Dec 3;109(1-2):63-75.
PMID: 9020904 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Cis-unsaturated fatty acids (c-UFAs) induced decreased survival of macrophage tumor (AK-5) cells in vitro.
These results indicate that c-UFAs can enhance free radical generation and lower the concentrations of various anti-oxidants in the tumor cells which may explain the cytotoxic action of c-UFAs.

7. Ramesh G, Das UN. Effect of cis-unsaturated fatty acids on Meth-A ascetic tumour cells in vitro and in vivo. Cancer Lett. 1998 Jan 30;123(2):207-14.
PMID: 9489490 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Earlier studies performed both by us and by others have demonstrated that some n-3 and n-6 fatty acids can inhibit the growth of tumour cells in vitro.
Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), arachidonic acid (AA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)) can inhibit the growth of methylcholanthrene-induced sarcoma cells (Meth-A cells) in vitro.

8. Das UN. Tumoricidal action of cis-unsaturated fatty acids and their relationship to free radicals and lipid peroxidation. Cancer Lett. 1991 Mar;56(3):235-43.
PMID: 1850658 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Cis-unsaturated fatty acids (c-UFAs) such as gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), arachidonic acid (AA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) can kill tumor cells selectively in vitro.

9. Menendez JA, Ropero S, del Barbacid MM, Montero S, Solanas M, Escrich E, Cortes-Funes H, Colomer R. Synergistic interaction between vinorelbine and gamma-linolenic acid in breast cancer cells. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2002 Apr;72(3):203-19.
PMID: 12058962 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

It has been suggested that exogenous unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) may increase the cytotoxic activity of cancer chemotherapeutic agents. We examined how y-linolenic acid (GLA; 18: 3n-6), the most promising UFA in the treatment of human tumors, affects the effectiveness of the lipophilic drug vinorelbine (VNR) on human breast carcinoma cell lines.
GLA was the most potent at enhancing VNR activity.
In conclusion, our results give experimental support to the hypothesis that some UFAs can be used as modulators of tumor cell chemosensitivity and provide the rationale for in vivo preclinical investigation.