Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026

Synthesis and Characterization of an Aspirin-fumarate Prodrug that Inhibits NFκB Activity and Breast Cancer Stem Cells
Published on: January 18, 2017
Curcumin induces apoptosis of HepG2 cells via inhibiting fatty acid synthase
Huijin Fan1, Weixi Tian, Xiaofeng Ma
1College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China.
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.
Related Concept Videos
The Extrinsic Apoptotic Pathway
The Intrinsic Apoptotic Pathway
NF-κB-dependent Signaling Pathway
NF-κB-dependent Signaling Mechanism
The heterodimer of NF-κB...
Inhibition of Cdk Activity
Phagocytosis of Apoptotic Cells
Normal cells contain receptors that prevent them from being recognized by phagocytes.