Targeting Fatty Acid Synthase Gene for Prostate Cancer Therapy
Abstract
Fatty acid synthase (FAS) is significantly over-expressed in prostate tumor cells and inhibition of FAS results in apoptosis, suggesting that FAS is an ideal target for drug development. The overarching hypothesis of this project is that a specific inhibitor for FAS dimerization will block the function of this enzyme and cause apoptosis of the tumor cell. Our specific aims are (1) to characterize the apoptotic pathway induced by FAS inhibition, and (2) to identify small chemical compounds that specifically inhibit dimer formation of FAS enzyme. During the last four months (Apr. 1-July 31, 2008) we mainly focused our effort on the second specific aim and screened a compound library provided by Developmental Therapeutics Program of NCI. We also screened a library of natural products that particularly focused on marine lives and found that one of the natural products in the library showed strong activity of inhibiting FAS. We also found that the purified compound, Cacalol, significantly blocked the activity and expression of FAS. Our results suggest that this compound has a potential utility for the treatment of prostate cancer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA494439
Entities
People
- Eiji Furuta
- Kounosuke Watabe
Organizations
- Southern Illinois University