As per recent reports, it has been revealed that the compound termed as delta-12-protaglandin J3, sometimes also known as D12-PGJ3, attacked and slaughtered the stem cells related to Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). The trial was conducted on mice.

While expressing his opinion in this regard, Penn State's Associate Professor of Immunology and Molecular Toxicology, Sandeep Prabhu explained that the, "Research in the past on fatty acids has shown the health benefits of fatty acids on cardiovascular system and brain development, particularly in infants, but we have shown that some metabolites of omega-3 have the ability to selectively kill the leukemia-causing stem cells in mice".

The compound is generated by Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA), an omega-3 fatty acid observed in abundance in fish oil.

The researchers further claimed that the most imperative aspect of the study is that the mice were made absolutely free of leukemia and the most shocking aspect was that there was no relapse witnessed after the mice were completely cured of leukemia.

The findings, which have been made available in the journal Blood, have claimed that the compound is highly significant in killing cancer-causing stem cells in the spleen of mice as well as in their bone marrow. Particularly, it tends to spark on a gene dubbed p53 in the leukemia stem cell that has an increased tendency of processing the death of the cell.

During their course of study, the researchers claimed that p53 is a typical sort of tumor suppressor gene having the potential of regulating the reaction to damage caused in the DNA and other than that, it tends to maintain a genomic stability.

By destroying the stem cells in leukemia, which is basically a particular cancer related to the white blood cells, the stem cells can be effectively divided for enhancing the production of more cancer cells other than creating additional stem cells.