Beneficial effects of omega-3 long-chain fatty acids in breast cancer and cardiovascular diseases: voltage-gated sodium channels as a common feature?

Abstract

Cancers are among the leading causes of death worldwide. Voltage-gated sodium channels, among other ion channels, appear as new molecular players in epithelial cancers. Highly metastatic breast cancer cells express Na(V)1.5, the main isoform expressed in cardiac cells, where the current generated by the flux of sodium ions is responsible for the excitability. Breast cancer cells are not excitable and the protein activity regulates cell invasiveness, through the modulation of activity of acidic cathepsins, a characteristic involved in the metastatic phenotype. Interestingly, it is known that ω-3 LC-PUFA can exert beneficial effects by preventing post-myocardial infarction arrhythmias and by reducing the incidence of metastatic breast cancer. In this review, we compare the effects of some ω-3 LC-PUFA on Na(V)1.5 expressed in both cardiac and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. We propose that some of the effects of ω-3 LC-PUFA act through common mechanisms involved in both diseases.

• Authors: Ludovic Gillet, Sébastien Roger, Philippe Bougnoux, Jean-Yves Le Guennec, Pierre Besson
• Journal: Biochimie (Biochimie) Vol. 93 Issue 1 Pg. 4-6 (Jan 2011) ISSN: 1638-6183 [Electronic] France
• PMID: 20167245 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Fatty Acids, Omega-3
• Muscle Proteins
• NAV1.5 Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel
• SCN5A protein, human
• Scn5a protein, rat
• Sodium Channels
• Sodium

Topics

• Animals
• Arrhythmias, Cardiac (diet therapy, drug therapy, prevention & control)
• Breast Neoplasms (diet therapy, drug therapy, prevention & control)
• Coronary Disease (diet therapy, prevention & control)
• Fatty Acids, Omega-3 (metabolism, therapeutic use)
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Muscle Proteins (metabolism)
• NAV1.5 Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel
• Patch-Clamp Techniques
• Rats
• Sodium (metabolism)
• Sodium Channels (metabolism)
• Tumor Cells, Cultured