Research progress in acetyl-CoA carboxylase inhibitors

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)is characterized by excessive fat deposition in hepatocytes, fat accumulates mainly in the form of triglycerides, triglycerides derive from esterification of glycerol and free fatty acids; and the synthesis of fatty acid is abnormally active in tumor cells, which is significantly higher than that of normal cells, providing necessary lipid substrates for the formation of biofilms, the production of signaling molecules and energy during the proliferation and development of tumor cells. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase(ACC)is the limiting-rate enzyme of de novo lipogenesis. And it is also an enzyme that catalyzes the first step of the fatty acid synthesis pathway; its catalyzed product, malonyl-CoA, also inhibits the oxidation of fatty acids. ACC inhibition can reduce fatty acid synthesis and promote fatty acid oxidation, which reduce the amount of fatty acids in the body. Hence, attenuating fat accumulation could improve NAFLD, and reduction of fatty acid content inhibits development of tumor tissues because lipid substrates could not satisfy the requirement of cancer cells. Therefore, ACC inhibitors have potential to be the novel drugs that can treat NAFLD and cancer. The recent research progress on ACC inhibitors is reviewed in this paper.