Recent studies have demonstrated that aldo-keto reductase family 1 B10 (AKR1B10), a novel protein overexpressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma and non-small cell lung carcinoma, may facilitate cancer cell growth by detoxifying intracellular reactive carbonyls. This study presents a novel function of AKR1B10 in tumorigenic mammary epithelial cells (RAO-3), regulating fatty acid synthesis. In RAO-3 cells, Sephacryl-S 300 gel filtration and DEAE-Sepharose ion exchange chromatography demonstrated that AKR1B10 exists in two distinct forms, monomers (ϳ40 kDa) bound to DEAE-Sepharose column and protein complexes (ϳ300 kDa) remaining in flow-through. Co-immunoprecipitation with AKR1B10 antibody and protein mass spectrometry analysis identified that AKR1B10 associates with acetyl-CoA carboxylase-␣ (ACCA), a rate-limiting enzyme of de novo fatty acid synthesis. This association between AKR1B10 and ACCA proteins was further confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation with ACCA antibody and pulldown assays with recombinant AKR1B10 protein. Intracellular fluorescent studies showed that AKR1B10 and ACCA proteins colocalize in the cytoplasm of RAO-3 cells. More interestingly, small interfering RNA-mediated AKR1B10 knock down increased ACCA degradation through ubiquitination-proteasome pathway and resulted in >50% decrease of fatty acid synthesis in RAO-3 cells. These data suggest that AKR1B10 is a novel regulator of the biosynthesis of fatty acid, an essential component of the cell membrane, in breast cancer cells.Aldo-keto reductase family 1 B10 (AKR1B10, 2 also designated aldose reductase-like-1, ARL-1) is a novel protein identified from human hepatocellular carcinoma (1). This protein belongs to the aldo-keto reductase superfamily, a group of proteins implicated in intracellular detoxification, cell carcinogenesis, and cancer therapeutics (2-5). AKR1B10 is primarily expressed in the colon and small intestine with low levels in the liver, thymus, prostate, and testis (1). However, this gene is overexpressed in 54% of human hepatocellular carcinoma, 84.4% of lung squamous cell carcinoma, and 29.2% of lung adenocarcinoma in smokers, making it a potential diagnostic and/or prognostic marker (1, 6, 7). AKR1B10 is an enzyme that efficiently catalyzes the reduction of carbonyls to corresponding alcohols with NADPH as a co-enzyme (1). Recent studies demonstrate that AKR1B10 expression facilitates growth of cancer cells, enhances their clonogenic capability, and reduces their susceptibility to reactive carbonyls such as acrolein and crotonaldehyde (8, 9). In vitro, AKR1B10 also shows strong enzymatic activity toward all-trans-retinal, 9-cis-retinal, and 13-cis-retinal, reducing them to the corresponding retinols. The diversity of retinal metabolism may diminish intracellular retinoic acid, a signaling molecule regulating cell proliferation and differentiation (4, 10).The current study presents a novel biological function of AKR1B10, regulating long chain fatty acid synthesis, in human breast cancer cells. During tumorigenic transformatio...