The omega-hydroxy palmitic acid induced apoptosis in human lung carcinoma cell lines H596 and A549.

We have found that omega-hydroxy palmitic acid (16-hydroxy palmitic acid, omega-HPA) has both cell growth inhibiting and cell death inducing actions on human lung adenosquamous carcinoma cell line H596 and adenocarcinoma cell line A549. Further, these effects were dose- and time-dependent in both cell lines. However, in squamous carcinoma cell line H226, omega-HPA had no cytotoxic effect. On the other hand, in the human small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) cell line H128, this compound showed weak cytotoxicity. The sensitivity toward omega-HPA was higher in H596 cells than in A549 cells. In both H596 and A549 cells, cell growth was inhibited to 24.4 and 9.4%, respectively, by treatment with 100 microM omega-HPA for 12 h. In the 24 h treatment cells, growth inhibition was increased to 100 and 38.1%, respectively. In cytotoxicity experiments, the number of dead cells increased with incubation times in the presence of omega-HPA: on three days incubation with 100 microM omega-HPA, viability was 0 and 13.5%, respectively, in H596 and A549 cells. Further, the fragmentation of DNA to oligonucleosomal-sized ladder fragments, which is an index of apoptosis, was observed in both cell lines on treatment with omega-HPA. Therefore, it is assumed that these cell deaths induced by omega-HPA, were apoptosis in these cell lines. Since the number of dead cells following treatment with omega-HPA decreased by treatment with omega-HPA in combination with Z-VAD-fmk, a caspase family inhibitor, it is thought that apoptotic cell death was related to caspase activity.