Mechanistic MALDI-TOF Cell-Based Assay for the Discovery of Potent and Specific Fatty Acid Synthase Inhibitors.

Human cancers require fatty acid synthase (FASN)-dependent de novo long-chain fatty acid synthesis for proliferation. FASN is therefore an attractive drug target, but fast technologies for reliable label-free cellular compound profiling are lacking. Recently, MALDI-mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) has emerged as an effective technology for discovery of recombinant protein target inhibitors.