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Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Omega-3 from fish oil augments GVHD through the enhancement of chemotherapy conditioning regimen and selective FoxP3 depletion

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 48, pages 843–848 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Omega-3 is known to enhance the effects of several chemotherapeutic agents and to exert several immunoregulatory actions In the present study, we evaluated the effects of a 21-day feeding regimen with omega-3-rich fish oil (FO) and its corresponding control, omega-6 rich corn oil (CO), on the BU-CY conditioning and the development of GVHD after BMT in mice. Before conditioning, FO, but not CO, feeding caused a significant attenuation in the number and functionality of splenic FoxP3+ T regulatory cells (Treg). FO feeding also enhanced the effects of the conditioning through severe depletion of Treg cells in the spleen and CD11b+ myeloid cells in both the BM and spleen. Consequently, FO-fed animals conditioned with BU-CY showed exacerbated GVHD following transplantation with allogeneic BM and splenic cells. In contrast, identical transplantation in CO-fed mice resulted in poor engraftment and body weight loss. Moreover, in standard-fed recipients, BMT with cells from FO-fed donors resulted in moderate GVHD and improved the survival time, whereas BMT with cells from CO-fed donors shortened the survival time and caused anemia. We conclude that food supplements should be considered in patients undergoing BMT and/or chemotherapy treatment.

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Acknowledgements

We express their gratitude to the Swedish Cancer Foundation (Cancerfonden-CF), the Swedish Childhood Cancer Society (Barncancerfonden-BCF) and Karolinska Institutet for their grant support.

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Author notes

  1. S Al Hashmi

    Present address: Department of Genetics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Laboratory Medicine, Experimental Cancer Medicine (ECM), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    S Al Hashmi, B Sadeghi, Z Hassan, M Abedi-Valugerdi & M Hassan

  2. Clinical Research center (KFC), Karolinska University Hospital-Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden

    Z Hassan & M Hassan

  3. Department of Oncology, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden

    M Lindskog

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  1. S Al Hashmi
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Correspondence to S Al Hashmi or M Hassan.

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Al Hashmi, S., Sadeghi, B., Hassan, Z. et al. Omega-3 from fish oil augments GVHD through the enhancement of chemotherapy conditioning regimen and selective FoxP3 depletion. Bone Marrow Transplant 48, 843–848 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2012.227

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