Potential Application Value of FASN in the Diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer

Background Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is a crucial enzyme that catalyzes endogenous lipogenesis in multiple diseases. However, the function and significance of FASN in colorectal cancer remain unclear. Aims This research aimed to explore the expression and role of FASN in colorectal cancer. Results Cancer, adjacent, and normal tissues were collected from patients with colorectal cancer and healthy controls. Immunohistochemistry and scoring were applied to analyze the expression of FASN in the different tissues, to investigate the differences in its expression among different tissue types, and to examine the potential correlation between FASN and gender, age, BMI, and other factors. Discussion In this study, 100 colorectal cancer patients and 100 healthy participants were recruited. Respectively, the average scores of cancer tissues, adjacent tissues, and normal tissues were 7.25, 2, and 1.25. Significant differences were found among these three tissue groups ( p < 0.05). Moreover, no significant association was observed between sex, age, BMI, and FASN expression scores in colorectal cancer tissues ( p > 0.05). Conclusion Based on these data, FASN was specifically overexpressed in cancer tissues and adjacent tissues. Hence, our results suggest that FASN may play an essential role in colorectal cancer and may be an attractive therapeutic target in the future.