scholarly journals The Effects of Adipocytes on the Regulation of Breast Cancer in the Tumor Microenvironment: An Update

Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chu ◽  
Phuong ◽  
Tien ◽  
Tran ◽  
Nguyen ◽  
...  

Obesity is a global pandemic and it is well evident that obesity is associated with the development of many disorders including many cancer types. Breast cancer is one of that associated with a high mortality rate. Adipocytes, a major cellular component in adipose tissue, are dysfunctional during obesity and also known to promote breast cancer development both in vitro and in vivo. Dysfunctional adipocytes can release metabolic substrates, adipokines, and cytokines, which promote proliferation, progression, invasion, and migration of breast cancer cells. The secretion of adipocytes can alter gene expression profile, induce inflammation and hypoxia, as well as inhibit apoptosis. It is known that excessive free fatty acids, cholesterol, triglycerides, hormones, leptin, interleukins, and chemokines upregulate breast cancer development. Interestingly, adiponectin is the only adipokine that has anti-tumor properties. Moreover, adipocytes are also related to chemotherapeutic resistance, resulting in the poorer outcome of treatment and advanced stages in breast cancer. Evaluation of the adipocyte secretion levels in the circulation can be useful for prognosis and evaluation of the effectiveness of cancer therapy in the patients. Therefore, understanding about functions of adipocytes as well as obesity in breast cancer may reveal novel targets that support the development of new anti-tumor therapy. In this systemic review, we summarize and update the effects of secreted factors by adipocytes on the regulation of breast cancer in the tumor microenvironment.

Author(s):  
Fei Qu ◽  
Yanru Cui ◽  
Shixin Yang ◽  
Zhihua Li ◽  
Jingxian Ding ◽  
...  

IntroductionIt has been unclear that ERK play the effects and relative mechanism in breast cancer development. The purpose of this work was to discuss the ERK play the effect in breast cancer and relative mechanisms.Material and methodsEvaluating ERK and CD59 proteins expression in difference tissue from patients by IHC assay. Using MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines which were breast cancer cell lines as target cell lines in our study. In vitro study, evaluating cell biological activities including proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, invasion, adherent and migration by MTT, clone test, TUNEL assay, flow cytometry and wound healing. And measuring relative proteins expressions by WB assay. In vivo study, measuring tumor weight and volume, the apoptosis cell number were evaluated by TUNEL assay and relative proteins expressions by IHC assay.ResultsCompared with adjacent normal tissue, the ERK and CD59 proteins expression were significantly increased in breast cancer tissues (P<0.001, respectively).In vitro and vivo studies, with ERK knockdown, the cell biological activities were significantly depressed with CD59 suppressing (P<0.001, respectively). And the relative proteins including CD59, PKD, P53, E-cadherin and Vimentin were significantly differences (P<0.001, respectively).ConclusionsERK play an oncology gene in breast cancer development, ERK inhibitor had effects to suppress breast cancer biological via regulation CD59 in vitro and vivo study.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 942
Author(s):  
Mei Qi Kwa ◽  
Rafael Brandao ◽  
Trong H. Phung ◽  
Jianfeng Ge ◽  
Giuseppe Scieri ◽  
...  

MRCKα is a ubiquitously expressed serine/threonine kinase involved in cell contraction and F-actin turnover, which is highly amplified in human breast cancer and part of a gene expression signature for bad prognosis. Nothing is known about the in vivo function of MRCKα. To explore MRCKα function in development and in breast cancer, we generated mice lacking a functional MRCKα gene. Mice were born close to the Mendelian ratio and showed no obvious phenotype including a normal mammary gland formation. Assessing breast cancer development using the transgenic MMTV-PyMT mouse model, loss of MRCKα did not affect tumor onset, tumor growth and metastasis formation. Deleting MRCKα and its related family member MRCKβ in two triple-negative breast cancer cell lines resulted in reduced invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells, but did not affect migration of 4T1 cells. Further genomic analysis of human breast cancers revealed that MRCKα is frequently co-amplified with the oncogenes ARID4B and AKT3 which might contribute to the prognostic value of MRCKα expression. Collectively, these data suggest that MRCKα might be a prognostic marker for breast cancer, but probably of limited functional importance.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2078
Author(s):  
Luca Gelsomino ◽  
Giuseppina Daniela Naimo ◽  
Rocco Malivindi ◽  
Giuseppina Augimeri ◽  
Salvatore Panza ◽  
...  

Aberrant leptin (Ob) signaling, a hallmark of obesity, has been recognized to influence breast cancer (BC) biology within the tumor microenvironment (TME). Here, we evaluated the impact of leptin receptor (ObR) knockdown in affecting BC phenotype and in mediating the interaction between tumor cells and macrophages, the most abundant immune cells within the TME. The stable knockdown of ObR (ObR sh) in ERα-positive and ERα-negative BC cells turned the tumor phenotype into a less aggressive one, as evidenced by in vitro and in vivo models. In xenograft tumors and in co-culture experiments between circulating monocytes and BC cells, the absence of ObR reduced the recruitment of macrophages, and also affected their cytokine mRNA expression profile. This was associated with a decreased expression and secretion of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in ObR sh clones. The loss of Ob/ObR signaling modulated the immunosuppressive TME, as shown by a reduced expression of programmed death ligand 1/programmed cell death protein 1/arginase 1. In addition, we observed increased phagocytic activity of macrophages compared to control Sh clones in the presence of ObR sh-derived conditioned medium. Our findings, addressing an innovative role of ObR in modulating immune TME, may open new avenues to improve BC patient health care.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (24) ◽  
pp. 9721
Author(s):  
Giuseppina Augimeri ◽  
Luca Gelsomino ◽  
Pierluigi Plastina ◽  
Cinzia Giordano ◽  
Ines Barone ◽  
...  

Multiple lines of evidence indicate that activation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) by natural or synthetic ligands exerts tumor suppressive effects in different types of cancer, including breast carcinoma. Over the past decades a new picture of breast cancer as a complex disease consisting of neoplastic epithelial cells and surrounding stroma named the tumor microenvironment (TME) has emerged. Indeed, TME is now recognized as a pivotal element for breast cancer development and progression. Novel strategies targeting both epithelial and stromal components are under development or undergoing clinical trials. In this context, the aim of the present review is to summarize PPARγ activity in breast TME focusing on the role of this receptor on both epithelial/stromal cells and extracellular matrix components of the breast cancer microenvironment. The information provided from the in vitro and in vivo research indicates PPARγ ligands as potential agents with regards to the battle against breast cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-266
Author(s):  
Qingfang Zeng ◽  
Cairong Luo ◽  
Junlae Cho ◽  
Donna Lai ◽  
Xiangchun Shen ◽  
...  

AbstractTryptanthrin is an indole quinazoline alkaloid from the indigo-bearing plants, such as Isatis indigotica Fort. Typically, this natural compound shows a variety of pharmacological activities such as antitumor, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. This study was conducted to assess the antitumor activity of tryptanthrin in breast cancer models both in vitro and in vivo, and to explore the important role of the inflammatory tumor microenvironment (TME) in the antitumor effects of tryptanthrin. Human breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells were used to assess the antitumor effect of tryptanthrin in vitro. MTT assay and colony formation assay were carried out to monitor the antiproliferative effect of tryptanthrin (1.56~50.0 μmol L−1) on inhibiting the proliferation and colony formation of MCF-7 cells, respectively. The migration and invasion of MCF-7 cells were evaluated by wound healing assay and Transwell chamber assay, respectively. Moreover, the 4T1 murine breast cancer model was established to examine the pharmacological activity of tryptanthrin, and three groups with different doses of tryptanthrin (25, 50 and 100 mg kg−1) were set in study. Additionally, tumor volumes and organ coefficients were measured and calculated. After two weeks of tryptanthrin treatment, samples from serum, tumor tissue and different organs from tumor-bearing mice were collected, and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to assess the regulation of inflammatory molecules in mouse serum. Additionally, pathological examinations of tumor tissues and organs from mice were evaluated through hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. The expression of inflammatory proteins in tumor tissues was measured by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Western blotting. Tryptanthrin inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of MCF-7 cells, up-regulated the protein level of E-cadherin, and down-regulated those of MMP-2 and Snail, as suggested by the MCF-7 cell experiment. According to the results from in vivo experiment, tryptanthrin was effective in inhibiting tumor growth, and it showed favorable safety without inducing the fluctuations of body mass and organ coefficient (p > 0.05). In addition, tryptanthrin also suppressed the expression levels of NOS1, COX-2 and NF-κB in mouse tumor tissues, and regulated those of IL-2, IL-10 and TNF-α in the serum of tumor cells-transplanted mice. Tryptanthrin exerted its anti-breast cancer activities through modulating the inflammatory TME both in vitro and in vivo.


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