2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) - ePosters-EP.02C.02 Stearic Acid but Not Palmitic Acid Induces Immunomodulatory Changes that Initiate Pro-Neoplastic Processes in Lung Epithelium

EP.02C.02 Stearic Acid but Not Palmitic Acid Induces Immunomodulatory Changes that Initiate Pro-Neoplastic Processes in Lung Epithelium

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This study explores the role of stearic acid (SA) and palmitic acid (PA) in lung cancer (LC) tumorigenesis, focusing on their effects on macrophage activity and immune modulation. SA and PA are similar long-chain saturated fatty acids, but findings indicate that SA influences lung cancer development differently from PA.<br /><br />Research highlights that elevated levels of SA, rather than PA, are observed in early-stage lung cancer patients, hinting at SA's potential role in tumorigenesis. The study aimed to investigate how SA and PA affect the immune and metabolic environments that could contribute to LC development.<br /><br />THP-1 monocytes were used to differentiate into macrophages and then treated with either SA or PA. The resulting conditioned media were tested on cancerous and non-cancerous lung cell lines to evaluate proliferation and transformation effects. SA-treated macrophages showed a significant upregulation of immunogenic markers like Arg1 and CD206, indicating a shift towards a pro-tumorigenic M2 macrophage phenotype, while PA did not induce similar changes.<br /><br />SA-conditioned media selectively promoted the proliferation of non-cancerous lung epithelial cells, while PA-conditioned media did not, indicating that SA induces a pro-tumorigenic inflammatory environment through macrophage-dependent pathways. Direct treatment of cell lines with SA or PA revealed no significant proliferation, underscoring the macrophage's role in the process.<br /><br />The results suggest that SA might contribute to lung cancer by promoting immunomodulatory changes in macrophages leading to tumorigenesis. On the contrary, PA does not exhibit such effects. Understanding these mechanisms could pave the way for new therapeutic strategies to mitigate inflammation-driven cancer progression, potentially using SA as a biomarker for early detection and risk assessment in lung cancer screening programs. Further research is needed to confirm if these effects are specific to SA or due to general fatty acid enrichment in the cellular environment.

Asset Subtitle

MARTIN DAVIS

Meta Tag

Speaker MARTIN DAVIS

Topic Tumor Biology – Preclinical Biology

Keywords

stearic acid

palmitic acid

lung cancer

macrophage activity

immune modulation

tumorigenesis

M2 macrophage phenotype

immunogenic markers

inflammatory environment

therapeutic strategies