Abstract
BACKGROUND: Many lines of evidence suggest that arachidonic acid (AA)-based eicosanoid signaling pathway involved in development and progression of human cancers. Cytosolic phospholipase A2-α (cPLA2α) encoded by the PLA2G4A gene acts as an upstream regulator of eicosanoid signaling pathway through providing intracellular AA. The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of omega fatty acids on mRNA expression level of PLA2G4A in patients with gastric cancer (GC) and to assess the possible relation between its expression and clinicopathological features. METHODS: According to treatment strategy, 34 chemotherapy-naive patients were randomly divided into two groups including, treatment group I (17 subjects received cisplatin alone) and treatment group II (17 individuals received cisplatin plus omega fatty acids) in a double-blind manner. The gastric biopsies specimens were taken from subjects before and after treatment and then mRNA expression level of PLA2G4A was evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR procedure. RESULTS: The expression of the PLA2G4A gene at the protein level in the gastric biopsies samples was also determined by immunohistochemistry. Our findings revealed a significantly up-regulated expression of PLA2G4A mRNA in treatment group II after receiving cisplatin plus omega fatty acid compared to before treatment (P=0.003). In treatment group I, there was no significant difference in mRNA expression levels of PLA2G4A before and after treatment (P=0.790). We also found that mRNA expression of PLA2G4A in treatment group II was significantly associated with tumor size (P=0.007) and familial history (P=0.006). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that supplementation with omega fatty acids increases the mRNA expression level of PLA2G4A in patients with GC and may be crucial in guarding the cell from transformation and carcinogenesis.