title: Leptin and cancer: from cancer stem cells to metastasis.
abstract: There is growing evidence that obesity is a risk factor of cancer incidence and mortality. Hence, the identification of the mechanistic links between obesity and cancer progression is emerging as a topic of widespread interest. Recently, several groups have addressed the functional roles of leptin, an adipocyte-derived adipokine, for mammary tumor progression. In this issue of Endocrine-Related Cancer, Zheng et al. study the role of leptin on tumor growth in a xenograft model of MMTV-Wnt1-derived cancer cells. They study growth of these cancer cells in the context of obese animals, such as ob/ob mice (lacking leptin) and db/db mice (lacking functional leptin receptors (LEPR)) and find that leptin triggers LEPR-positive cancer stem cell differentiation, thereby promoting tumor cell survival. These findings highlight the therapeutic potential for leptin and leptin signaling in the context of mammary tumor growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Touchstone Diabetes Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, Texas 75390-8549, USA.
authors.forename: Jiyoung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Philipp E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Scherer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D020738:Leptin / Q000172:deficiency*; D015674:Mammary Neoplasms, Animal / Q000473:pathology*; D008324:Mammary Tumor Virus, Mouse / Q000235:genetics*; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D051155:Wnt1 Protein / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D020738:Leptin; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; C495246:Wnt1 protein, mouse