Oleate Epoxides Derived from Palm Oil as New Anticancer Agents: Synthesis, Cytotoxicity Evaluation, and Molecular Docking Studies Against FASN Protein

Abstract Palm oil contains an abundant concentration of oleic acid which is known to have low toxicity to human health. The unsaturated double‐bond structure in oleic acid can be modified to synthesize oleate epoxides. The potential benefit of epoxide derivatives is their high biological activity that can be directed as new anticancer agents. In this work, the synthesis of epoxides from purified fatty acid methyl ester (EPFAME) and epoxides from purified fatty acid ethyl ester (EPFAEE) from palm oil in addition to cytotoxicity evaluations as new anticancer agents were investigated by in vitro and in silico studies. Both EPFAME and EPFAEE derivatives were successfully obtained in 82.80 % and 85.80 % yield, respectively. The MTT assay results revealed that EPFAME and EPFAEE significantly decreased the cell viability of WiDr cancer cells with IC 50 of 2.70 and 14.23 μg/mL, respectively. They also showed moderate potency against T47D and HeLa cancer cell lines with IC 50 ≥20 μg/mL. The results suggested that the addition of a methylene group from EPFAME to EPFAEE lowers cytotoxicity. A molecular docking study revealed that EPFAME and EPFAEE bind to the fatty acid synthase (FASN) protein interacting with high stability. This is represented by the binding affinity values of EPFAME and EPFAEE to FASN protein which are −7.3 and −8.1 kcal/mol, respectively. Using epoxide compounds derived from palm oil, fatty acid esters were shown to have potential medical benefits due to their low cytotoxicity and anticancer agency against several cell lines by inhibiting proliferation and inducing apoptosis of cancer cells.