ArticleNature communications2021
Adipose stem cell niche reprograms the colorectal cancer stem cell metastatic machinery.
Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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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
53 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 79 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review: The gut microbiota as a link between colorectal cancer and obesity.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Pooled it
- Hallmarks of epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity in cancer.Molecular cancer · 2026Review
- Peritumoural adipose tissue promotes ferroptosis resistance by 3-hydroxykynurenine-mediated suppression of ferritinophagy.Nature cell biology · 2026Article
- Obesity-associated gene mutations across cancer types: a pan-cancer analysis of TCGA data.BJC reports · 2026Article
- Visceral and subcutaneous adipose stem cells modulate colorectal cancer cell progression: direct and indirect contact distinctly accelerate tumor aggressiveness.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Understanding obesity-cancer crosstalk to inform the immunomodulatory roles of anti-obesity nanotherapeutics.Materials today. Bio · 2026Review
- Enteric neuro-immune-tumor ecosystem in pancreatic, colorectal, and gastric malignancies: context dependence and translational priorities.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Association of preoperative CT-derived visceral adipose tissue index with synchronous metastasis and metastasis-free survival after curative-intent surgery in colorectal cancer.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Conductive Nerve Guidance Conduits Loaded With Adipose Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Peripheral Nerve Regeneration.Smart medicine · 2025Article
- Tumor Innervation: From Bystander to Emerging Therapeutic Target for Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Nerve growth factor: what can surgeons and oncologists learn from a neurological and psychological biomarker?Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Review
- The role of adipogenic niche resident cells in colorectal cancer progression in relation to obesity.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Review
- C1QMolecular cancer · 2025Article
- Understanding pre-metastatic niche formation: implications for colorectal cancer liver metastasis.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Review
- Metabolic Targets in CRC: The Emerging Role of Cytochrome P450 Inhibitors.Current pharmaceutical design · 2025Review
- Converging deep learning and human-observed tumor-adipocyte interaction as a biomarker in colorectal cancer.Communications medicine · 2024Article
- Advancements in 3D In Vitro Models for Colorectal Cancer.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Review
- The Role of Adipocytes Recruited as Part of Tumor Microenvironment in Promoting Colorectal Cancer Metastases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Potential Consequences of the Use of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells in the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Clinical Challenges of Consensus Molecular Subtype CMS4 Colon Cancer in the Era of Precision Medicine.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
29 authors at 10 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Obesity is a strong risk factor for cancer progression, posing obesity-related cancer as one of the leading causes of death. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms that endow cancer cells with metastatic properties in patients affected by obesity remain unexplored.Here, we show that IL-6 and HGF, secreted by tumor neighboring visceral adipose stromal cells (V-ASCs), expand the metastatic colorectal (CR) cancer cell compartment (CD44v6 + ), which in turn secretes neurotrophins such as NGF and NT-3, and recruits adipose stem cells within tumor mass. Visceral adipose-derived factors promote vasculogenesis and the onset of metastatic dissemination by activation of STAT3, which inhibits miR-200a and enhances ZEB2 expression, effectively reprogramming CRC cells into a highly metastatic phenotype. Notably, obesity-associated tumor microenvironment provokes a transition in the transcriptomic expression profile of cells derived from the epithelial consensus molecular subtype (CMS2) CRC patients towards a mesenchymal subtype (CMS4). STAT3 pathway inhibition reduces ZEB2 expression and abrogates the metastatic growth sustained by adipose-released proteins. Together, our data suggest that targeting adipose factors in colorectal cancer patients with obesity may represent a therapeutic strategy for preventing metastatic disease.
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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.