Mercola J. Molecular and cellular mechanisms of pentadecanoic acid. World J Biol Chem 2025; 16(4): 111258 [DOI: 10.4331/wjbc.v16.i4.111258]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Joseph Mercola, Researcher, Midwestern University, 555 31st Street, Downers Grove, IL 60515, United States. drm@mercola.com
Research Domain of This Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Biol Chem. Dec 5, 2025; 16(4): 111258 Published online Dec 5, 2025. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v16.i4.111258
Molecular and cellular mechanisms of pentadecanoic acid
Joseph Mercola
Joseph Mercola, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL 60515, United States
Author contributions: Mercola J was the sole author responsible for study conception and design, data acquisition and interpretation, manuscript preparation and revision, final approval of the version to be published, and agrees to be accountable for the integrity of the work in all respects.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author is the founder of a nutritional supplement company. While the company does not currently manufacture or sell C15:0 products, the author has explored potential product development in this area. This review was conducted independently, and all cited research was performed by third-party laboratories.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Joseph Mercola, Researcher, Midwestern University, 555 31st Street, Downers Grove, IL 60515, United States. drm@mercola.com
Received: June 26, 2025 Revised: July 15, 2025 Accepted: October 10, 2025 Published online: December 5, 2025 Processing time: 161 Days and 11.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Pentadecanoic acid (C15:0) is portrayed as the first essential odd-chain saturated fat that ignites fat-burning through partial peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α/δ agonism, activates AMP-activated protein kinase while damping mechanistic target of rapamycin, revives complex II via succinate anaplerosis, and uniquely inhibits cancer-linked histone deacetylase 6. It also blocks Janus kinase 2/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 and nuclear factor kappa B, using the BioMAP® human-primary-cell platform – which tests 12 distinct primary human cell systems such as endothelial cells, fibroblasts, macrophages, and T-cells – C15:0 (17 µM) produced statistically significant changes in 36 mechanistically diverse biomarkers. By eliciting broad, multi-pathway modulation that mirrors the phenotype produced by metformin and rapamycin – yet with no detectable cytotoxicity – C15:0 emerges as a safe, affordable “nutrapharmaceutical” poised to counter metabolic, inflammatory, and age-related diseases.
