STUDIES ON THE IN VITRO ANTITUMOR ACTIVITY OF FATTY ACIDS: V. UNSATURATED ACIDS

Abstract

Previous studies on the in vitro antitumor activity of saturated mono- and dicarboxylic fatty acids have been extended to a series of unsaturated fatty acids ranging in carbon chain length from C 6 to C 20 - All 10 compounds tested exhibited some activity at pH 4.0 against the ascites forms of the Ehrlich carcinoma, 6C3HED lymphosarcoma, and TA 3 mammary carcinoma. Only three compounds (2-decenoic, linoleic, and linolenic acids) were found to be active at neutrality against all three tumors, while four compounds (2-nonenoic, 10-undecenoic, oleic, and arachidonic acids) were active against one or two tumors under neutral conditions. Considerable variations were encountered in the relative effectiveness of these compounds against the three ascites tumors. The compounds with the most marked in vitro antitumor activity were linoleic and linolenic acids.