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Abstract
We investigated the effect of dietary supplementation with secoisolariciresinol diglycoside
(SDG), a lignan precursor isolated from flaxseed, on experimental metastasis of B16BL6
murine melanoma cells in C57BL/6 mice. Four diets were compared: a basal diet (control
group) and the basal diet supplemented with SDG at 73, 147 or 293 micromol/kg (equivalent
to SDG provided in the 2.5, 5 or 10% flaxseed diet). Mice were fed the diet for 2
weeks before and after an intravenous injection of 0.6 x 10(5) tumor cells. At necropsy,
the number and size of tumors that formed in the lungs were determined. The median
number of tumors in the control group was 62, and those in the SDG-supplemented groups
were 38, 36 and 29, respectively. The last was significantly different from the control
(P < 0.01). Dietary supplementation with SDG at 73, 147 and 293 micromol/kg also decreased
tumor size (tumor cross-sectional area and volume) in a dose-dependent manner compared
with the control values. These results show that SDG reduced pulmonary metastasis
of melanoma cells and inhibited the growth of metastatic tumors that formed in the
lungs. It is concluded that dietary supplementation with SDG reduces experimental
metastasis of melanoma cells in mice.