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Cited by 291

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 12 of the 12 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Adipocytes activate mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and autophagy to promote tumor growth in colon cancer

Open access
Wen, Yang-An, Xing, Xiaopeng, Harris, Jennifer W, Zaytseva, Yekaterina Y, Mitov, Mihail I, Napier, Dana L, Weiss, Heidi L, Mark Evers, B, Gao, Tianyan·2017·Cell Death & Disease

Abstract

Obesity has been associated with increased incidence and mortality of a wide variety of human cancers including colorectal cancer. However, the molecular mechanism by which adipocytes regulate the metabolism of colon cancer cells remains elusive. In this study, we showed that adipocytes isolated from adipose tissues of colon cancer patients have an important role in modulating cellular metabolism to support tumor growth and survival. Abundant adipocytes were found in close association with invasive tumor cells in colon cancer patients. Co-culture of adipocytes with colon cancer cells led to a transfer of free fatty acids that released from the adipocytes to the cancer cells. Uptake of fatty acids allowed the cancer cells to survive nutrient deprivation conditions by upregulating mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation. Mechanistically, co-culture of adipocytes or treating cells with fatty acids induced autophagy in colon cancer cells as a result of AMPK activation. Inhibition of autophagy attenuated the ability of cancer cells to utilize fatty acids and blocked the growth-promoting effect of adipocytes. In addition, we found that adipocytes stimulated the expression of genes associated with cancer stem cells and downregulated genes associated with intestinal epithelial cell differentiation in primary colon cancer cells and mouse tumor organoids. Importantly, the presence of adipocytes promoted the growth of xenograft tumors in vivo. Taken together, our results show that adipocytes in the tumor microenvironment serve as an energy provider and a metabolic regulator to promote the growth and survival of colon cancer cells.

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Crossref · 10.1038/cddis.2017.21

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Metadata

Authors
Wen, Y.-A., Xing, X., Harris, J. W., Zaytseva, Y. Y., Mitov, M. I., Napier, D. L., Weiss, H. L., Mark Evers, B., & Gao, T.
Venue
Cell Death & Disease
Published
2017-02-02
Volume
8
Issue
2
Pages
e2593-e2593
ISSN
2041-4889 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2583960272
Cited by
291
References
12
FWCI
7.20
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
gold

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Adipocytes activate mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and autophagy to promote tumor growth in colon cancer. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1038/cddis.2017.21
The paper
Wen, Y.-A., Xing, X., Harris, J. W., Zaytseva, Y. Y., Mitov, M. I., Napier, D. L., Weiss, H. L., Mark Evers, B., & Gao, T. (2017). Adipocytes activate mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and autophagy to promote tumor growth in colon cancer. Cell Death & Disease. https://doi.org/10.1038/cddis.2017.21

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