Tocotrienols are one of the most potent anticancer agents of all natural compounds and the anticancer property may be related to the inactivation of Ras family molecules. The anticancer potential of tocotrienols, however, is weakened due to its short elimination half life in vivo. To overcome the disadvantage and reinforce the anticancer activity in tocotrienols, we synthesized a redox-silent analogue of ␣-tocotrienol (T3), 6-O-carboxypropyl-␣-tocotrienol (T3E). We estimated the possibility of T3E as a new anticancer agent against lung adenocarcinoma showing poor prognosis based on the mutation of ras gene. T3E showed cytotoxicity against A549 cells, a human lung adenocarcinoma cell line with a ras gene mutation, in a dose-dependent manner (0 -40 M), whereas T3 and a redox-silent analogue of ␣-tocopherol (T) Key words: ␣-tocotrienol; redox-silent derivative; lung adenocarcinoma; Ras; cytotoxicity; Bcl-xL; cyclin D Lung cancer, particularly non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), is one of the most common forms of cancer and is the leading cause of cancer death in the West. 1 NSCLC exhibiting adenocarcinoma histology forms the majority of lung cancers and its ras genes carry mutations. 2 Furthermore, the presence of mutated ras genes in lung adenocarcinoma is linked with shortened patient survival. 3 These reports indicate that signaling pathways activated by mutated Ras protein contribute to the appearance of malignant phenotypes in lung adenocarcinoma. Thus, the inhibition of the mutated Ras function may be a promising procedure to regulate the development of lung cancer.,Mutated Ras proteins remain locked in an active state, and for the activated proteins to transduce the signals into downstream molecules, the proteins must be associated with the inner surface of the plasma membrane. 4 The critical process for the attachment of Ras to the inner surface of the plasma membrane is farnesylation of the C-terminal in Ras protein. 5 Because the inhibition of farnesylation can prevent Ras from maturing into its biologically active form, the inhibition is considered a potential therapeutic procedure for current cancer therapy. 6,7 In general, tumors undergo deregulated cholesterogenesis mainly via the upregulation of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, a key enzyme of cholesterol synthesis. 8 HMG-CoA reductase plays a key role in controlling cell proliferation by generating prenyl intermediates, particularly farnesyl and geranyl-geranyl moieties, 8 so the upregulation of the enzyme in tumors finally stimulates the cell proliferation via the increase of prenylation in Ras molecules. Thus, agents such as lovastin, which had been exploited previously for lowering cholesterol based on the inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase, may be useful chemotherapeutic agents for treating tumors harboring oncogenic ras mutation. 8 Natural constituents such as sundry mevalonate-derived constituents (isoprenoids) of fruits, vegetables and cereal grains suppress the development of tumors, 9 and the suppressive effect mainly...