Tetradecylthioacetic acid (TTA), a representative member of the 3-thia family, has the chemical structure of palmitic acid (C16) in which a sulfur atom is located between the 2 and 3-carbon atoms (COOH-CH2-S-(CH2)13-CH3). TTA is a novel hypolipidemic drug which has been shown to combine several effects of w-3 PUFAs, such as EPA, and structurally unrelated peroxisome proliferators, such as phenylacetate and fibrates. From this perspective we wanted to investigate if TTA shares the antitumor activity found for these functionally related compounds, and furthermore to study the metabolic effects of TTA in cancer cells in relation to the effects found in hepatocytes.
TTA is a novel thio-fatty acid which cannot undergo beta-oxidation. It induces apoptosis in IPC-81 leukemia cells via depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential and inhibits glioma cell proliferation. TTA completely prevents high fat diet-induced insulin resistance and adiposity in Wistar rats. Activates rodent PPAR’s with rank order PPARα>PPARδ>PPARγ.
