In order to investigate the effects of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on the proliferation, apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cell line SW1990 cells and the ex-pression of cyclin E mRNA, the SW1990 cells were treated with different concentrations of EPA or DHA (20, 40, 60 μg/mL) for 0, 12, 24, 36 and 48 h respectively. By using MTT method, the inhibi-tory effects of EPA or DHA on the cell growth were assayed. Real time PCR was used to detect the expression changes of cyclin E mRNA after the SW1990 cells were treated with 40 μg/mL EPA or DHA for different time. Flow eytometry was used to test the changes of apoptostic rate in the SW1990 cells treated with different concentrations of EPA or DHA for 24 h. The results showed that EPA and DHA could inhibit the growth of SW1990 cells in a time- and concentration-dependent manner (P