Breast cancer is one of the most common
cancers and is the second leading cause of
cancer mortality in women worldwide. Novel
therapies and chemo-therapeutic drugs are urgently needed to be developed for the treatment of
breast cancer. Increasing evidence suggests that
fatty acid synthase (FAS) plays an important role in
breast cancer, for the expression of FAS is significantly higher in human
breast cancer cells than in normal cells.
Tannic acid (TA), a natural
polyphenol, possesses significant biological functions, including bacteriostasis, hemostasis, and
anti-oxidant. Our previous studies demonstrated that TA is a natural FAS inhibitor whose inhibitory activity is stronger than that of classical FAS inhibitors, such as C75 and
cerulenin. This study further assessed the effect and therapeutic potential of TA on FAS over-expressed
breast cancer cells, and as a result, TA had been proven to possess the functions of inhibiting intracellular FAS activity, down-regulating FAS expression in human
breast cancer MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells, and inducing
cancer cell apoptosis. Since high-expressed FAS is recognized as a molecular marker for
breast cancer and plays an important role in
cancer prognosis, these findings suggest that TA is a potential drug candidate for treatment of
breast cancer.