The researchers found that dietary omega-3 fatty acid supplementation blocked tumor growth in mice treated with immunotherapy, sEH inhibitor, or both treatments used together. In contrast, mice on the high-omega-6 diet and given immunotherapy experienced accelerated tumor growth in certain tumor types.
The study will be presented at the American Society for Investigative Pathology annual meeting during the Experimental Biology (EB) 2022 meeting, to be held April 2–5 in Philadelphia.
"Sources of omega-3s include fish, nuts and seeds while omegas-6s are found in meats, eggs and other foods" - I stopped reading right at this point. I just hate when someone writing an article has no idea what he's talking about. Firstly, omega 6s found in meats and eggs are not, and never were the problem. How about telling us something about shelf stable highly processed and easily oxidizing vegetable oils like canola, rapeseed, sunflower, safflower etcetera which almost everybody uses for cooking these days. Nobody can overload on Omega 6s by eating meat and eggs. Secondly, omega-3s are found in seeds? It's enough to have one look at what kind of oil sunflower seeds contain. They are a disaster. I just hope that those who will be holding the presentation know more about the topic than this journalist. This topic is way more complicated than the article suggests. And it is not as simple as "everything plant based is good and everything animal based is bad". Far from it. But I agree that fish is good.
The problem with these mouse experiments is that the chow given to the mice is far from anything natural that they eat. The Omega sixes that they are fed are mostly unnatural, highly processed refined oils that the mice would never meet in nature. I wonder what kind of omega 3s were fed to them. Probably the same kind. All these experiments are thus flawed. Not to mention mice are not our close relatives either. They should have tested simply the removal of Omega 6s from the diet instead of topping up high levels of Omega sixes with high levels of omega-3s. For humans this is the recommended approach as well. Do not try to counteract High omega-6 consumption with high omega-3 consumption. Reduce your omega-6 consumption. Consume reasonable amounts of both Omega sixes and omega-3s. Preferably in a one to one or two to one ratio. This will reduce inflammation and common sense says that promote health as well. If it boosts the effectiveness of immunotherapy all the better.
I have no knowledge whatsoever on this particular matter, so excuse me for not weighing in on it. However, I believe omegas 3 and 6 have blood thinning capabilities, which can affecting one's clotting ability. This, in concert with a possibly lower platelet level, due to one's malignant white blood cells crowding out both platelets and red blood cells and, therefore, production, could create bleeding issues under certain circumstances. Additionally, ibrutinib, which I take, is a blood thinning drug, which may, in combination with the omegas and other blood thinning supplements (for example, D and magnesium), seriously exacerbate the clotting issue. This may well be an issue for other targeted therapy drugs in the same class as ibrutinib. If I were you, I'd check possible interactions very, very carefully. Drugs.com is a good site for that.
Good to remind members being treated for CLL that omega 3 supplements (not just fish oil) can reduce agglomeration of platelets in what may be an already suppressed platelet population.
For solid tumours at least, this research suggests that in contrast to the positive effect of omega 3, a diet rich in omega 6 reduces the efficacy of immunotherapeutic drugs. I don't know of similar evidence for CLL.
Management of bleeding with BTK inhibitors must be considered with a risk-benefit analysis for patients taking either antiplatelet or anticoagulants. Minor bleeding with BTK inhibitors may be well tolerated; however, counseling should be performed to minimize the risk of bleed. Patients should be cautioned against the use of NSAIDs (excluding for primary or secondary cardiovascular prevention), vitamin E, and fish oil.
I would be hesitant to put to much behind this study for CLL patients as canadacll reported before his passing that omega-3 fish oils causes clumping of palates which is bad for those with low palates. Chris was always a source of good information as he was treated at MD Anderson.
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