Selective activation of the fatty acid synthesis pathway in human prostatecancer

A substantial subset of breast, colorectal, ovarian, endometrial and prosta tic cancers displays markedly elevated expression of immunohistochemically detectable fatty acid synthase, a feature that has been associated with poo r prognosis and that may be exploited in anti-neoplastic therapy. Here, usi ng an RNA array hybridisation technique complemented by in situ hybridisati on, we report that in prostate cancer fatty acid synthase expression is up- regulated at the mRNA level together with other enzymes of the same metabol ic pathway. Contrary to the observations that in many cell systems (includi ng androgen-stimulated LNCaP prostate cancer cells) fatty acid and choleste rol metabolism are coordinately regulated so as to supply balanced amounts of lipids for membrane biosynthesis, storage or secretion, no changes in th e expression of genes involved in cholesterol synthesis were found. These f indings point to selective activation of the fatty acid synthesis pathway a nd suggest a shift in the balance of lipogenic gene expression in a subgrou p of prostate cancers. Int. J, Cancer 88: 176-179, 2000, (C) 2000 Wiley-Lis s, Inc.