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Effects by adipocytes and obesity-associated metabolic conditions on phenotype and migration of breast cancer cells

Bergqvist, Malin (2016) MOBM01 20161
Degree Projects in Molecular Biology
Popular Abstract
Interactions between obesity and breast cancer

Breast cancer and obesity are both diseases that are afflicting more and more women at an alarming rate in the Western world. In this project we examined how fat cells under different obesity-associated conditions, influenced breast cancer cells. We showed that breast cancer cells are affected by fat cells regarding both cell growth and movement.

Breast cancer is a disease, which one in eight women in Sweden will be diagnosed with during her lifetime. The initiation of a cancer disease results from normal cells switching to uncontrolled rapidly dividing cells. For the breast cancer to become invasive and spread in the body, the cells must undergo several additional changes including... (More)
Interactions between obesity and breast cancer

Breast cancer and obesity are both diseases that are afflicting more and more women at an alarming rate in the Western world. In this project we examined how fat cells under different obesity-associated conditions, influenced breast cancer cells. We showed that breast cancer cells are affected by fat cells regarding both cell growth and movement.

Breast cancer is a disease, which one in eight women in Sweden will be diagnosed with during her lifetime. The initiation of a cancer disease results from normal cells switching to uncontrolled rapidly dividing cells. For the breast cancer to become invasive and spread in the body, the cells must undergo several additional changes including loss of cell-to-cell connections and altered cell shape. These alterations promote a more motile cell, allowing the breast cancer cells to move and eventually create secondary tumors.

Obesity and overweight are like breast cancer an escalating public health concern. Obese and overweight people have an increased volume of body fat, which consists of more and larger fat cells (adipocytes). Overweight and obesity can lead to serious metabolic conditions such as insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The metabolic changes can influence the properties of cancer cells, making them move and grow faster. These changes can be associated with poorer breast cancer prognosis in both diabetics and obese people compared to nondiabetic and lean people, respectively.

This project studied the effects of adipocytes under different obesity-associated metabolic conditions on the growth rate and movement ability of human breast cancer cells. The aim was to investigate if the alterations obesity have on adipocytes, effected the motility and growth of cancer cells.

This study demonstrated that breast cancer cells stimulated by adipocytes had a higher growth rate, an altered cell shape and increase of cellular markers for movement, indicating that they had changed their original cell type. Breast cancer cells grown with adipocyte-derived factors also showed an increase in movement, which was further stimulated under obesity-associated conditions.

In conclusion, our results showed that the combined effects of adipocytes and obesity-associated metabolic conditions, stimulated breast cancer cell growth and movement. Obesity can lead to a microenvironment beneficial for breast tumor growth and motility, by providing factors that stimulate tumor progression. This tumor-favourable environment may be considered in obese breast cancer patients since a more rapid growing, aggressive tumor could be expected. The results in this study may partly explain the impaired prognosis observed among obese breast cancer patients.

Supervisors: Ann Rosendahl, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Science
Signe Borgquist, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clincial Science
MasterĀ“s Degree Project 30 credits, 2016
Department of Biology, Lund University (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Bergqvist, Malin
supervisor
organization
course
MOBM01 20161
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
8891465
date added to LUP
2016-09-12 12:20:55
date last changed
2016-09-12 12:20:55
@misc{8891465,
  author       = {{Bergqvist, Malin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Effects by adipocytes and obesity-associated metabolic conditions on phenotype and migration of breast cancer cells}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}