ArticleJCI insight2017
Mammary adipocytes stimulate breast cancer invasion through metabolic remodeling of tumor cells.
Article in JCI insight, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 299 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
299 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 438 citations in OpenAlex.
- Targeting Ferroptosis as the Achilles' Heel of Breast Cancer: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Opportunities from a Comprehensive Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Association between body mass index and lymph node metastasis among women with cervical cancer: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2024Pooled it
- Revolutionizing breast cancer treatment: Harnessing the related mechanisms and drugs for regulated cell death (Review).International journal of oncology · 2024Pooled it
- Adipose triglyceride lipase driven lipolysis as a targetable metabolic vulnerability in prostate cancer with intrinsic metabolic inflexibility.British journal of cancer · 2026Article
- Altered Lipolytic Protein Expression in Tumor-Associated Adipose Tissue Correlates with Aggressive Breast Cancer Features.Cancers · 2026Article
- Closing the recapitulation gap in obesity-conditioned TNBC drug development.npj drug discovery · 2026Review
- ATGL-mediated lipid droplet lipolysis promotes collective cell migration in Drosophila.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- Cancer-associated adipocytes: metabolic reprogramming, crosstalk and therapeutic implications in tumor progression.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Review
- Oxidative Phosphorylation and Fatty Acid Oxidation Are Central to Mitochondrial Metabolism Rewiring in CML Stem/Progenitor Cell Survival.Pathophysiology : the official journal of the International Society for Pathophysiology · 2026Review
- Review
- An Exploratory Study on the Interrelation of Breast Cancer Molecular Phenotypes with Breast Cancer-Associated Adipose Tissues (BCAATs), Neoadjuvant, and Adjuvant Therapies: A Focus on Prognosis and Survival.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Mechanistic Links Between Obesity and Breast Cancer Progression: Cellular Crosstalk, Metabolic Reprogramming and Microenvironmental Drivers.Cell biochemistry and function · 2026Review
- The osteoporotic niche as a metabolic sanctuary for breast cancer dormancy and reactivation: A mechanistic perspective.iScience · 2026Review
- Multidimensional risk impact of obesity on breast cancer incidence, treatment, and prognosis.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Review
- Predictors of pathologic complete response in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy: a multi-institution study.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2026Article
- Brown Adipocyte Promotes HR+ Breast Cancer Invasiveness Through IRX3-Mediated Mitochondrial Dysfunction.Metabolites · 2026Article
- HER2-driven mammary tumorigenesis enhances bioenergetics despite reductions in mitochondrial content.eLife · 2026Article
- CPT1A loss promotes lung metastasis in immune-competent mice via a mechanism of mtDNA release and chronic activation of STING pathway.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Adipocytes as Orchestrators of Multimodal Cancer Therapy Resistance.Biomolecules & therapeutics · 2026Review
- Proteomic signatures of adipocyte recruitment in breast cancer.Endocrine-related cancer · 2026Article
239 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
21 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In breast cancer, a key feature of peritumoral adipocytes is their loss of lipid content observed both in vitro and in human tumors. The free fatty acids (FFAs), released by adipocytes after lipolysis induced by tumor secretions, are transferred and stored in tumor cells as triglycerides in lipid droplets. In tumor cell lines, we demonstrate that FFAs can be released over time from lipid droplets through an adipose triglyceride lipase-dependent (ATGL-dependent) lipolytic pathway. In vivo, ATGL is expressed in human tumors where its expression correlates with tumor aggressiveness and is upregulated by contact with adipocytes. The released FFAs are then used for fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO), an active process in cancer but not normal breast epithelial cells, and regulated by coculture with adipocytes. However, in cocultivated cells, FAO is uncoupled from ATP production, leading to AMPK/acetyl-CoA carboxylase activation, a circle that maintains this state of metabolic remodeling. The increased invasive capacities of tumor cells induced by coculture are completely abrogated by inhibition of the coupled ATGL-dependent lipolysis/FAO pathways. These results show a complex metabolic symbiosis between tumor-surrounding adipocytes and cancer cells that stimulate their invasiveness, highlighting ATGL as a potential therapeutic target to impede breast cancer progression.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.