ÔMEGA-3 NO TRATAMENTO PALIATIVO DO CÂNCER

Abstract

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish oil and high-lipid fish play an important role in palliative cancer treatment. They have the ability to inhibit the transcription of pro-inflammatory genes, inhibit carcinogenesis, slow the growth of tumors, act on cell differentiation, cellular apoptosis, improve the efficacy of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, since they help in increasing the immune response, reducing the toxicity of chemotherapy and further reducing complications associated with surgical wounds, due to the decrease in the magnitude of the typical inflammatory response of trauma.  In addition, several mechanisms of action have been addressed in order to describe the way in which omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid can alter the carcinogenesis process. The study, as presented, is a literature review, whose main objective is to present the various benefits of omega-3 supplementation in palliative cancer treatment, resulting in improving the quality of life of these patients.