Fatty acid synthase expression and esophageal cancer

Abstract

Fatty acid synthase (FASN) overexpression has also been associated with a variety of human malignancies including tumor progression, aggressiveness, and metastasis. To investigate the role of FASN expression in esophageal cancer, we evaluated 60 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, 20 cases of adenocarcinoma, and 10 cases of normal esophageal tissues. We found that FASN was detected in 95 % human squamous cell carcinoma, and in 90 % human adenocarcinoma samples. However, all cases of normal esophageal epithelium did not express the protein of FASN. Further, to investigate the role of FASN in tumorigenesis and development, we analyze the growth and migration by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), colony formation and wound healing assay. We found that inhibition of FASN expression in TE13 cells by RNAi suppressed the growth of cells. Decreased FASN expression mitigated the migration of TE13 cells. These studies demonstrated the functional importance of FASN in esophageal tumorigenesis, and suggested that inhibiting FASN might be applied to treat esophageal cancer.

Plasma Phosphatidylcholines Fatty Acids in Men with Squamous Cell Esophageal Cancer: Chemoradiotherapy Improves Abnormal Profile

“…Both FAS and SCD1 activities support cancer cell growth and survival, as it was found in breast and endometrial cancer [25]. It was suggested that the FAS expression is of functional importance in human esophageal tumorigenesis, and that inhibiting FAS might be applied to treat esophageal cancer [26]. …”

Modulation of Fatty Acid Synthase Degradation by Concerted Action of p38 MAP Kinase, E3 Ligase COP1, and SH2-Tyrosine Phosphatase Shp2

“…The expression of FASN is relatively low in normal tissue since fatty acid is generally supplied by diet, but aberrantly elevated in various types of cancer including breast, prostate, colon, ovarian, and esophageal carcinomas (7)(8)(9)(10). Interestingly, de novo synthesized fatty acids regulate glucose, lipid, and cholesterol metabolism through activation of PPAR␣ in adult liver (11).…”

Inhibition of FASN expression enhances radiosensitivity in human non-small cell lung cancer

“…FASN is often highly expressed in human cancer, whereas it is usually undetectable or exhibits low expression in the majority of normal human tissues (13)(14)(15)(16)(17). This differential tissue distribution makes FASN an attractive target for the development of novel anticancer techniques (13)(14)(15)(16). Zhou et al evaluated 80 samples of esophageal cancer, revealing that FASN is primarily localized in the cytoplasm of esophageal cancer, but exhibited little or no expression in normal esophageal tissues (16).…”

“…This differential tissue distribution makes FASN an attractive target for the development of novel anticancer techniques (13)(14)(15)(16). Zhou et al evaluated 80 samples of esophageal cancer, revealing that FASN is primarily localized in the cytoplasm of esophageal cancer, but exhibited little or no expression in normal esophageal tissues (16). Similarly, Kao et al (15) investigated FASN expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma using immunohistochemistry and revealed that FASN was positively expressed in the tumoral cytoplasm, but exhibited low or no expression in non-tumor epithelium.…”

“…This is thought to be essential for the progression, metastasis, and drug and radiation resistance of tumors (12). In recent years, accumulating evidence has demonstrated that the overexpression FASN is strongly associated with an unfavorable prognosis and treatment resistance in a variety of human neoplasms, including breast (13), bladder (14), nasopharyngeal carcinoma (15), esophageal (16) and pancreatic cancer (17). Although the roles of FASN in tumor progression and treatment resistance have been investigated, there have been no studies of FASN expression in NSCLC and its association with sensitivity to ionizing irradiation.…”