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Curcumin induces apoptosis of HepG2 cells via inhibiting fatty acid synthase

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Abstract

Fatty acid synthase (FAS) is highly expressed in many kinds of human cancers, including liver cancer. Curcumin is the major active ingredient of Curcuma longa and has long been used to treat a variety of maladies. In the present study, we investigated the potential use of curcumin as a kind of FAS inhibitor for chemoprevention of liver cancer. Curcumin induced HepG2 cell apoptosis with the IC50 value of 8.84 μg/ml. It inhibited intracellular FAS activity, and downregulated expression and mRNA level of FAS in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, sodium palmitate could rescue cell apoptosis induced by curcumin. Further studies reviewed that siRNA of FAS showed similar results as curcumin. These findings suggested that curcumin might be useful for preventing or treating liver cancer.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Special Science and Technology Projects for Outstanding Young in Life Sciences (KSCX2-EW-Q-19), Main Direction Program of Knowledge Innovation of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-EW-J-29), as well as K.C. Wong Education Foundation, Hong Kong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China

    Huijin Fan, Weixi Tian & Xiaofeng Ma

  2. National Research Institute for Family Planning, No. 12, Dahuisi Road, Beijing, 100081, China

    Huijin Fan

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  1. Huijin Fan
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  2. Weixi Tian
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  3. Xiaofeng Ma
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Correspondence to Xiaofeng Ma.

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Fan, H., Tian, W. & Ma, X. Curcumin induces apoptosis of HepG2 cells via inhibiting fatty acid synthase. Targ Oncol 9, 279–286 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11523-013-0286-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11523-013-0286-5

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