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Adipose tissue

The dysfunctional adipocyte — a cancer cell's best friend

Nature Reviews Endocrinology volume 14, pages 132–134 (2018)Cite this article

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The interactions of adipocytes with tumour cells have been extensively scrutinized. The adipocyte's mitogenic influence on tumour cells is attributed to several hormonal, growth factor and adipokine effects. A recent study has expanded our understanding of how adipocytes promote tumour progression by demonstrating that adipocytes actively catabolize the chemotherapeutic agent daunorubicin.

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Figure 1: Adipose tissue effects in the tumour microenvironment.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01-DK55758, R01-DK099110, P01-DK088761 and P01-AG051459, as well as a grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT RP140412) to P.E.S.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Touchstone Diabetes Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center,

    Zhuzhen Zhang

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; and at the Department of Cell Biology, Touchstone Diabetes Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center,

    Philipp E. Scherer

  3. and at the Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, 75390, Texas, USA

    Philipp E. Scherer

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  1. Zhuzhen Zhang
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Correspondence to Philipp E. Scherer.

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Zhang, Z., Scherer, P. The dysfunctional adipocyte — a cancer cell's best friend. Nat Rev Endocrinol 14, 132–134 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2017.174

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