Introduction Oesophageal cancer is a very aggressive disease, and despite advances in cancer treatment, the prognosis is still poor. Growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and pro-inflammatory markers have a major role in cancer progression, survival and metastasis. We examined anti-proliferative effects of DHA and oxaliplatin on two oesophageal cancer cell lines, in addition to assessing effects on VEGF and the inflammatory cytokine IL-6.

Method Two Oesophageal cell lines (OE33 and OE19) were treated with either DHA or Oxaliplatin (0–50 µM) and incubated for up to 144 h. Cell counts were measured using a Z2 particle size analyser and expression of VEGF and IL-6 measured in cell culture supernatant using MSD ELISA kits. Three way ANOVA was used to analyse the data using StataIC 13 software.

Results DHA reduced proliferation of OE33 and OE19 cell lines by 59% (p < 0.001) and 26% (p = 0.019) respectively. Oxaliplatin reduced proliferation by 77% (p < 0.001) and 76% (p < 0.001) respectively, growth curve demonstrated in the Figure 1. Down regulation of VEGF expression in OE33 cells after 144 h DHA treatment (50 µM) was highly significant (p < 0.0001, 95% CI -664.04 to -544.27) as was Oxaliplatin treatment (50 µM) (p < 0.0001, 95% CI -803.97 to -581.70). OE19 cells exhibited sensitivity to both drugs at lower concentrations at this same time point; DHA (30 µM) (p = 0.005, 95% CI -63.88 to -19.57) and Oxaliplatin (20 µM) (p = 0.026 95% CI -73.1 to -6.54). The two drugs had no statistically significant inhibition of IL-6 expression in both cell lines despite inhibition of cell growth.

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Abstract PWE-169 Figure 1

Conclusion The data provide evidence that the DHA and Oxaliplatin have statistically significant down regulation effect of VEGF in the two oesophageal cell lines but didn’t alter expression of pro-inflammatory markers such as IL-6.

Disclosure of interest None Declared.