Grant: Project Grant

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women as 1 in 9 women over their lifetime will be diagnosed with this form of cancer. In 2015, the Public Health Agency estimated 25 000 Canadian women, or approximately 480 women per week would be diagnosed with breast cancer, and over 5000 would die. The vast majority of these women would have been offered some form of chemotherapy treatment. Long chain polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, found in fatty fish from cold water, have been shown to decrease breast cancer growth in laboratory animals and human cancer cells in culture (e.g. in petri dishes). Recently, studies from our group have suggested that one of these omega-3 fatty acids, docosahexanoic acid or DHA, can improve the ability of a common chemotherapy drug to kill breast cancer, but not normal cells. Our studies indicate that DHA can kill cancer cells using some of the same death signals that chemotherapy drugs use. We are proposing that treating breast cancer cells with DHA will improve the effectiveness of current breast cancer chemotherapy drugs, without increasing side effects. We are especially interested in the use of DHA during early (neoadjuvant) chemotherapy that is used to treat Stage II & III breast cancer prior to surgery and/or radiation. We will study the use of DHA in cell models, animal's implanted with human tumors and in a small clinical trial in women undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy to determine the efficacy and the effect on the tumor and the women's immune system. We anticipate that providing or feeding DHA will improve the action of the chemotherapy drug and help protect the women's immune system. Our studies will provide evidence that an inexpensive dietary treatment improves drug effectiveness without additional toxic side effects to the patient. Our work has the potential to significantly benefit women diagnosed with breast cancer