HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY

From Cell Biology to Tissue Engineering

 

Review

Emerging role of fatty acid binding proteins in cancer pathogenesis

Shilpa Gurung1*, Katherine Po Sin Chung1* and Terence Kin-Wah Lee1,2

1Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology and 2State Key Laboratory of Chirosciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, PR China
*Contributed equally

Offprint requests to: Dr. Terence K.W. Lee, Room Y805, Block Y, Lee Shau Kee Building, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, PR China. e-mail: terence.kw.lee@polyu.edu.hk


Summary. Fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) are 15-kDa proteins responsible for the transport of fatty acids both intracellularly and extracellularly. Consisting of 12 different isoforms, some of the proteins have been found to be released in the serum and to be correlated with various diseases including cancer. Differential expression of these proteins has been reported to result in cancer pathogenesis by modulating various cancer signaling pathways; hence, in this review, we present the recent studies that have investigated the roles of different kinds of FABPs in different types of cancer and any possible underlying mechanisms to better understand the role of FABPs in cancer progression. Histol Histopathol 34, 1-12 (2019)

Key words: Adipocytes, Cancer, Drug resistance, FABPs, Metastasis

DOI: 10.14670/HH-18-014