Krill oil to improve blood lipids status in advanced cancer patient with cachexia

e19634 Background: Cancer patients with cachexia symptoms often show a lipid profile disorder, consisting in severe hypertriglyceridemia due to increased circulating free fatty acids and variable total cholesterol levels, decreased activity of lipoprotein lipase and increased lipolysis, which is correlated with proinflammatory cytokines levels, particularly IL-6 and TNFα. Recent evidence further confirms impairment of adipose tissue metabolism in inflammatory condition like cancer cachexia. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of nutritional supplementation with Omega 3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) in the form of Krill Oil, on main parameters of blood lipid profile and on IL-6 and TNFα blood levels. Methods: In 2011, 34 IV stage cachectic patients (M/F 20/14; age range 55-85 y) with cancer at different sites were enrolled. 21 healthy subjects were studied as controls. All patients had high blood tryglicerides, low total cholesterol levels , high levels of blood IL-6 and TNFα compared to controls. Patients received 3 capsules (3 g/day) of krill oil (Superba™ Krill Oil, Aker Biomarine, Norway), which is an oil extract from the crustacean krill (Euphausia Superba) which contains Omega-3 series unsaturated fatty acids in phospholipidic form, of which 98 % are EPA and DHA mainly in phospholipid form. Treatment duration was 2 months. Results: A significant reduction of tryglicerides blood levels (148.23 ± 88.06 vs 114 ± 55.8 mg/dl) and a significant improvement of HDL cholesterol (42.5 ± 15.6 vs 60.9 ± 12.3 mg/dl) and Total Cholesterol (135.6 ± 46.3 vs 159 ± 41.1 mg/dl) was observed after treatment. Cytokines Il-6 and TNFα blood levels did not change significantly after treatment Conclusions: Nutritional supplementation with krill oil showed a positive activity in the regulation of blood lipid profile, involving different metabolic and inflammatory pathways, probably mainly affecting hormone-sensitive lipase activity. Our data suggest that krill oil could be useful in multi-targeted combined pharmaco-nutritional approaches to treat cancer-cachexia. Additional phase III clinical studies are warranted.