Obesity and leptin in breast cancer angiogenesis

Courtney B Lagarde; Kapil Thapa; Nicole M Cullen; Mackenzie L Hawes; Khudeja Salim; Megan C Benz; Sophie R Dietrich; Brandon E Burow; Bruce A Bunnell; Elizabeth C Martin; Bridgette M Collins-Burow; Ronald M Lynch; Van T Hoang; Matthew E Burow; Jennifer S Fang

doi:10.3389/fendo.2024.1465727

Obesity and leptin in breast cancer angiogenesis

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024 Oct 8:15:1465727. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1465727. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Courtney B Lagarde^{1

2}, Kapil Thapa³, Nicole M Cullen^{1

2}, Mackenzie L Hawes^{1

2}, Khudeja Salim^{1

2}, Megan C Benz^{1

2}, Sophie R Dietrich^{1

2

4}, Brandon E Burow³, Bruce A Bunnell⁵, Elizabeth C Martin^{1

2}, Bridgette M Collins-Burow^{1

2}, Ronald M Lynch⁶, Van T Hoang^{1

2}, Matthew E Burow^{1

2

7

8}, Jennifer S Fang^{3

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology and Oncology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, United States.
² Tulane University Cancer Center, New Orleans, LA, United States.
³ Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Tulane University School of Science and Engineering, New Orleans, LA, United States.
⁴ United States Department of Agriculture Southern Regional Research Center, New Orleans, LA, United States.
⁵ Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Genetics, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX, United States.
⁶ Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States.
⁷ Department of Pharmacology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, United States.
⁸ Department of Surgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, United States.
⁹ Department of Physiology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, United States.

Abstract

At the time of breast cancer diagnosis, most patients meet the diagnostic criteria to be classified as obese or overweight. This can significantly impact patient outcome: breast cancer patients with obesity (body mass index > 30) have a poorer prognosis compared to patients with a lean BMI. Obesity is associated with hyperleptinemia, and leptin is a well-established driver of metastasis in breast cancer. However, the effect of hyperleptinemia on angiogenesis in breast cancer is less well-known. Angiogenesis is an important process in breast cancer because it is essential for tumor growth beyond 1mm³ in size as well as cancer cell circulation and metastasis. This review investigates the role of leptin in regulating angiogenesis, specifically within the context of breast cancer and the associated tumor microenvironment in obese patients.

Keywords: angiogenesis; breast cancer; hyperleptinemia; leptin; obesity; tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Angiogenesis
Animals
Breast Neoplasms* / metabolism
Breast Neoplasms* / pathology
Female
Humans
Leptin* / metabolism
Neovascularization, Pathologic* / metabolism
Neovascularization, Pathologic* / pathology
Obesity* / complications
Obesity* / metabolism
Tumor Microenvironment

Substances

Leptin

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was funded in part through a Tulane Center for Aging COBRE Pilot Award (P30GM145498 (JSF)), a Louisiana Cancer Research Center (LCRC) New Investigator Award (M1-CR1305A6 (JSF)), and a Carol Lavin Bernick Faculty award from the Tulane Provost’s Office (JSF). This work was also funded by USDA Project #6054-41000-112-000D (MEB).