Leptin and Adiponectin: new players in the field of tumor cell and leukocyte migration
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BioMed Central
Open Access
Review
Leptin and Adiponectin: new players in the field of tumor cell and leukocyte migration Kerstin Lang* and Janina Ratke Address: Institute of Immunology, Witten/Herdecke University, Stockumer Str. 10, 58448 Witten, Germany Email: Kerstin Lang* - [email protected]; Janina Ratke - [email protected] * Corresponding author
Published: 23 December 2009 Cell Communication and Signaling 2009, 7:27
doi:10.1186/1478-811X-7-27
Received: 22 September 2009 Accepted: 23 December 2009
This article is available from: http://www.biosignaling.com/content/7/1/27 © 2009 Lang and Ratke; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract Adipose tissue is no longer considered to be solely an energy storage, but exerts important endocrine functions, which are primarily mediated by a network of various soluble factors derived from fat cells, called adipocytokines. In addition to their responsibility to influence energy homeostasis, new studies have identified important pathways linking metabolism with the immune system, and demonstrating a modulatory role of adipocytokines in immune function. Additionally, epidemiological studies underline that obesity represents a significant risk factor for the development of cancer, although the exact mechanism of this relationship remains to be determined. Whereas a possible influence of adipocytokines on the proliferation of tumor cells is already known, new evidence has come to light elucidating a modulatory role of this signaling substances in the regulation of migration of leukocytes and tumor cells. The migration of leukocytes is a key feature to fight cancer cells, whereas the locomotion of tumor cells is a prerequisite for tumor formation and metastasis. We herein review the latest tumor biological findings on the role of the most prominent adipocytokines leptin and adiponectin, which are secreted by fat cells, and which are involved in leukocyte migration, tumor growth, invasion and metastasis. This review thus accentuates the complex, interactive involvement of adipocytokines in the regulation of migration of both leukocytes and tumor cells, and gives an insight in the underlying molecular mechanisms.
Introduction The prevalence and incidence of obesity and obesityrelated diseases has increased dramatically over the past decades. Globally, the overweight population has exceeded one billion, and epidemiologic data collected clearly demonstrate that obesity in adults is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and numerous other health disorders [1]. Traditionally, fat tissue was considered to be solely an energy storage depot having only a passive function in the body. However, recent studies have shown that fat tissue exerts important endocrine functions, w
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