Forskningsgruppe for marine fettsyrer og kreft

The research group

The Schønberg research group is headed by Associate professor Svanhild A. Schønberg. The group consists of five PhD students, three master students and two technicians. We are situated in Trondheim, Norway, at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children’s and Women’s Health at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Do n-3 fatty acids have a potential in cancer prevention and therapy?

Fatty fish and plant-based foods, such as seeds, oils and nuts, are important sources of omega-3 fatty acids (n-3 FAs). Numerous studies indicate an inverse relationship between dietary intake of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and cancer. Animal and cell culture studies show that n-3 PUFAs inhibit cell proliferation and induce programmed cell death, apoptosis. However, the molecular mechanisms behind these effects are complex and unclear. Defining these mechanisms is important for PUFAs potential impact on cancer therapy as well as cancer prevention. Our research group study the response to PUFAs in different cancer cell lines and animal models with the aim of identifying gene expression patterns and signalling pathways affected.

Our current projects are focusing on the effect of PUFAs on;

• Cell cycle and apoptosis
• Oxidative stress and redox balance
• Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis and ER stress
• Lipid and cholesterol metabolism

The group has a close collaboration with Professor Hans E. Krokan at the Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine.

Associate professor Svanhild Schønberg is responsible for the Trondheim-based Affymetrix-node in the FUGE platform of The Norwegian Microarray Consortium .

List of publications:

Slagsvold JE, Hakvåg Pettersen CH, Follestad T, Krokan HE, Schønberg SA. The antiproliferative effect of EPA in HL60 cells is mediated by alterations in calcium homeostasis. Lipids. 2008 Nov 20. Link to full text

Jakobsen CH*, Størvold GL*, Bremseth H*, Follestad T, Sand K, Mack M, Olsen KS, Lundemo AG, Iversen JG, Krokan HE and Schønberg SM. DHA induces ER stress and growth arrest in human colon cancer cells - associations with cholesterol and calcium homeostasis. J Lipid Res (2008); 49:2089-2100. Link to full text

* Authors have contributed equally to this article

Schønberg SA, Lundemo AG, Fladvad T, Holmgren K, Bremseth H, Nilsen A, Gederaas O, Tvedt K, Egeberg KW and Krokan HE. Closely related colon cancer cell lines display different sensitivity to polyunsaturated fatty acids, accumulate different lipid classes and downregulate sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1. FEBS Journal (2006);273:2749-2765 Link to full text

Schønberg SA, Jakobsen CH, Bremseth H; Olsen KS, Lundemo AG, Follestad T, Sand K, Iversen JG, Krokan HE. Endoplasmic reticulum stress induced by DHA leads to growth arrest of human colon cancer cells. Chemistry and Physics of Lipids (2005);136 (2), 101.

Conferences