The effect of specific phospholipids that may have a possible role in propagating or inhibiting glioma

Abstract

Cancer is one of the major causes of death in spite of a substantial increase in understanding of the molecular mechanism behind its occurrence. Glioma is the type of brain cancer, which arises in the glial cells of the brain. Glioma is categorized into three areas namely: astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma and astro-oligodendroglioma (mixture of both). In our day-to-day diet, the public consume phospholipids from various sources of food products including egg, milk, soybean, offal and some vegetables. Environmental factors such as food habits could also be contributing factors of glioma. This study was designed to investigate the possible effects of dietary phospholipids in either proliferating or inhibiting the growth of glioma. In this study, the soy phospholipids, Lipoid S-100, Phospholipon ® 90H and L-α-phosphatidylcholine were tested individually on three different glioma cell lines namely 1321N1, GOS-3 and U87-MG.

Tissue culture techniques were employed to measure the activity of each phospholipid by in vitro studies. The ATP release by 1321N1, GOS-3 or U87-MG cell line treated with each soy-derived phospholipid was measured after 48 hrs of incubation. On measurement using the ATP assay, the results obtained from 1321N1 and GOS-3 cell lines showed significant (P < 0.05) increases in growth on the treatment with either Lipoid S-100, Phospholipon ® 90H or L-α-phosphatidylcholine when compared with untreated cells and treated cells with 0.002% isopropyl alcohol (IPA). In contrast, Phospholipon ® 90H was found to enhance the growth of 1321N1 and GOS-3 cell lines and this effect was significantly (P < 0.05) larger when compared to the effects of Lipoid S-100 and L-α-phosphatidylcholine. Treatment of cells with either Lipoid S-100 or Phospholipon ® 90H showed a significant (P < 0.05) decrease in the growth of U87-MG cell line when compared with untreated cells and cells treated with 0.002% IPA. Following treatment with L-α-phosphatidylcholine, no effect on the growth of U87-MG cell line was observed when compared with either untreated cells or 0.002% IPA treated cells. There was also a significant inhibition when compared with untreated cells. These results have indicated that soy derived phospholipids can enhance the growth of the low grade astrocytoma 1321N1 and GOS-3 cell lines and they do not support the growth of high grade glioblastoma U87-MG. Further experiments are required to determine the mechanism of action of soy derived phospholipids in either proliferating or inhibiting cancer cells.