%0 Journal Article %T Association of Delta-6-Desaturase Expression with Aggressiveness of Cancer, Diabetes Mellitus, and Multiple Sclerosis: A Narrative Review %J Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention %I West Asia Organization for Cancer Prevention (WAOCP), APOCP's West Asia Chapter. %Z 1513-7368 %A Arshad, Zhila %A Rezapour-Firouzi, Soheila %A Ebrahimifar, Meysam %A Mosavi-Jarrahi, Alireza %A Mohammadian, Mahshid %D 2019 %\ 04/01/2019 %V 20 %N 4 %P 1005-1018 %! Association of Delta-6-Desaturase Expression with Aggressiveness of Cancer, Diabetes Mellitus, and Multiple Sclerosis: A Narrative Review %K cancer %K Delta-6-Desaturase %K Diabetes Mellitus %K mTOR %K Multiple Sclerosis %R 10.31557/APJCP.2019.20.4.1005 %X Background: The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/ protein kinase B /mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/Akt/mTOR) signaling regulates multiple cellular processes and organizes cell proliferation, survival, and differentiationwith the available nutrients, in particular, fatty acids. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are cytotoxic to cancer cellsand play a critical role in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and diabetes mellitus (DM). PUFAs are produced inthe body by desaturases and elongases from dietary essential fatty acids (EFAs), primarily involving delta-6-desaturase(D6D). D6D is a rate-limiting enzyme for maintaining many aspects of lipid homeostasis and normal health. D6D isimportant to recognize the mechanisms that regulate the expression of this enzyme in humans. A lower level of D6D wasseen in breast tumors compared to normal tissues. Interestingly, the elevated serum level of D6D was seen in MS andDM, which explains the critical role of D6D in inflammatory diseases. Methods: We searched databases of PubMed,Web of Science (WOS), Google Scholar, Scopus and related studies by predefined eligibility criteria. We assessedtheir quality and extracted data. Results: Regarding the mTOR signaling pathway, there is remarkable contributions ofmany inflammatory diseases to attention to common metabolic pathways are depicted. Of course, we need to have theinsights into each disorder and their pathological process. The first step in balancing the intake of EFAs is to preventthe disruption of metabolism and expression of the D6D enzyme. Conclusions: The ω6 and ω3 pathways are two majorpathways in the biosynthesis of PUFAs. In both of these, D6D is a vital bifunctional enzyme desaturating linoleic acidor alpha-linolenic acid. Therefore, if ω6 and ω3 EFAs are given together in a ratio of 2: 1, the D6D expression will bedown-regulated and normalized. %U https://journal.waocp.org/article_82379_3aa67801632f805d7c44a4a26925068e.pdf