On Dec. 22, a Penn State study showed that a compound from fish oil can target leukemia stem cells and has promise for use in treating leukemia, according to Daily Science. The compound, Δ12-PGJ3, targets and kills chronic granulocytic leukemia (CML) stem cells in mice, said Sandeep Prabhu, associate professor of immunology and molecular toxicology in the Department of Veterinary Medicine. The compound comes from EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), an omega-3 fatty acid found in fish and fish oil, he said. ”Past studies on fatty acids have shown that they are beneficial for the cardiovascular system and brain development, especially in infants and children, but we found that in mice, some metabolites of omega-3 fatty acids have the ability to selectively kill stem cells that can cause leukemia,” Prabhu said, “and most importantly, the mouse leukemia was completely cured and did not recur.” The researchers, who published their findings in the current issue of Blood, say the compound killed cancer-causing stem cells in the spleen and bone marrow of mice. Specifically, it activated the p53 gene in leukemia stem cells, which is responsible for cell death. ”p53 is a tumor suppressor gene that regulates the response to DNA damage and maintains genomic stability,” Prabhu said. ”Killing leukemic stem cells (leukemia, a cancer of white blood cells) is very important because stem cells are able to divide and produce more cancer cells, as well as create more stem cells,” Prabhu said. Current treatments for chronic granulocytic leukemia prolong patients’ lives by maintaining low levels of leukemia cell counts, but do not cure the disease because the drugs do not target leukemia stem cells, said Robert Paulson, associate professor in the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, who co-directed the study with Prabhu. ”Patients have to take the drugs continuously, and if they stop, the disease comes back, and the primed leukemia stem cells are resistant to these drugs. Current therapies can’t kill these leukemia stem cells, Paulson said. ”These stem cells can escape the drugs, and fewer stem cells can produce more and more leukemia cells,” Paulson said. So, if you want to cure leukemia, targeting stem cells is a must. In the experiment, the researchers injected 600 micrograms of Δ12-PGJ3 into each mouse every day for a week. The results of the experiment showed that the mice were completely cured of their leukemia. Blood counts were normal, the spleen returned to normal size, and the disease did not recur. In previous experiments, the compound also killed stem cells of Friend virus-induced leukemia, which is an experimental model for human leukemia. The researchers focused on Δ12-PGJ3 because it killed leukemia stem cells, but then had the fewest side effects. Researchers are currently working to test whether the compound can be used to treat end-stage chronic granulocytic leukemia (CML), or progenitor cell crisis. When the disease progresses to this stage, there is currently no cure. Researchers have filed a patent application and are preparing to test the compound in humans.