Summary of the article

Functional Role of Resveratrol in Inducing Apoptosis in Breast Cancer Subtypes via Inhibition of Intracellular Fatty Acid Synthase

From the journal Molecules (MDPI, 2025)

Objectives of the study

This research studies whether Resveratrol (Resveratrol), a natural polyphenol substance found in red grapes, And how can mulberries help stimulate the death of breast cancer cells (Apoptosis) by focusing on inhibiting an important enzyme called FASN (Fatty Acid Synthase), which is an enzyme involved in the creation of fatty acids within cells. and is often found to be abnormally high in breast cancer.

Why FASN is important

Cancer cells require large amounts of fatty acids to function.

create cell membranes

increase division

Help spread

resist cell death

Therefore, if FASN can be inhibited, it will make it more difficult for cancer cells to survive.

Experimental method

Researchers used three types of breast cancer cells:

SK-BR-3 → HER2-positive

MCF-7 → Luminal type

MDA-MB-231 → Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)

Then give resveratrol in various concentrations to see the effects.

cell survival

apoptosis

How FASN works

signaling pathways involved in cancer progression, such as

FAK / AKT / ERK

Important research results

1. Resveratrol reduces the growth of cancer cells.

It was found that resveratrol The number of cancer cells is clearly reduced.

By being like

dose-dependent (The more, the stronger)

time-dependent (The longer it takes, the clearer it becomes)

All subtypes had similar results.

2. Stimulate Apoptosis (death of cancer cells) found that

PARP cleavage increased

Bax (apoptosis-inducing protein) increases

Bcl-2 (anti-apoptotic protein) decreases

shows that resveratrol causing cancer cells to clearly enter the apoptosis process

3. Inhibit FASN directly

Resveratrol can

Reduced expression of FASN

Reduces the activity of FASN enzyme.

Reduce fatty acid levels within cells

This is considered to be the main mechanism of the anticancer effect in this work.

4. If you reduce FASN → it kills cells more powerfully.

When using siRNA to reduce FASN together with resveratrol

Found that more cancer cells died.

This indicates that FASN is indeed the “main target” of resveratrol.

5. Inhibit cancer signaling pathways

Resveratrol also reduces the activity of

FAK

AKT

ERK1/2

This is an important route that helps cancer grow quickly, spread and become resistant to treatment.

Conclusion of the research

Resveratrol is a natural substance with high potential to fight breast cancer.

especially through the mechanism

“Inhibits FASN → reduces fatty acid production → stimulates apoptosis”

and can act on many subtypes of breast cancer, not just one type. Therefore has the opportunity to develop

functional food

nutraceutical

adjuvant therapy in combination with cancer treatment in the future

“Resveratrol Not just antioxidants But there is research at the cellular level that indicates that it can help inhibit the survival mechanism of cancer cells.”