Obesity alters the lung myeloid cell landscape to enhance breast cancer metastasis through IL5 and GM-CSF

Nat Cell Biol. 2017 Aug;19(8):974-987. doi: 10.1038/ncb3578. Epub 2017 Jul 24.

Abstract

Obesity is associated with chronic, low-grade inflammation, which can disrupt homeostasis within tissue microenvironments. Given the correlation between obesity and relative risk of death from cancer, we investigated whether obesity-associated inflammation promotes metastatic progression. We demonstrate that obesity causes lung neutrophilia in otherwise normal mice, which is further exacerbated by the presence of a primary tumour. The increase in lung neutrophils translates to increased breast cancer metastasis to this site, in a GM-CSF- and IL5-dependent manner. Importantly, weight loss is sufficient to reverse this effect, and reduce serum levels of GM-CSF and IL5 in both mouse models and humans. Our data indicate that special consideration of the obese patient population is critical for effective management of cancer progression.

MeSH terms

  • Adiposity
  • Adoptive Transfer
  • Animals
  • Breast Neoplasms / genetics
  • Breast Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Coculture Techniques
  • Diet, Fat-Restricted
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Disease Progression
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / blood
  • Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / metabolism*
  • Interleukin-5 / blood
  • Interleukin-5 / metabolism*
  • Lung / metabolism*
  • Lung / pathology
  • Lung Neoplasms / genetics
  • Lung Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Lung Neoplasms / prevention & control
  • Lung Neoplasms / secondary
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Inbred NOD
  • Mice, SCID
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Neutrophil Infiltration*
  • Neutrophils / metabolism*
  • Neutrophils / pathology
  • Neutrophils / transplantation
  • Obesity / complications
  • Obesity / diet therapy
  • Obesity / metabolism*
  • Obesity / pathology
  • Pneumonia / etiology
  • Pneumonia / metabolism*
  • Pneumonia / pathology
  • Pneumonia / prevention & control
  • Signal Transduction
  • Time Factors
  • Tumor Microenvironment
  • Weight Loss

Substances

  • IL5 protein, human
  • Interleukin-5
  • Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor