Targeting FASN in Breast Cancer and the Discovery of Promising Inhibitors from Natural Products Derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine

Figure 1

Connecting glucose and lipid metabolism in normal cells. The high rate of de novo synthesis generates essential lipids that are critical for the formation of cell membrane and produces extra energy for cancer proliferation and progression. In contrast to fatty acid synthesis being downregulated in most normal human tissues, precancerous lesion and cancer cells upregulate fatty acid synthesis, resulting in the high expression of FASN independent of dietary fat. Fatty acid synthesis also appears to be independent of hormonal regulation in many cancers including breast cancer. The inhibition of fatty acid synthesis results in the accumulation of the substrate Malonyl-CoA, which can create cytotoxicity and induce apoptosis. [30, 31].