Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 28, 2017; 23(32): 5829-5835
Published online Aug 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i32.5829
Role of tissue microenvironment resident adipocytes in colon cancer
Maria Tabuso, Shervanthi Homer-Vanniasinkam, Raghu Adya, Ramesh P Arasaradnam
Maria Tabuso, Ramesh P Arasaradnam, Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, Clifford Bridge Road, Coventry CV2 2DX, United Kingdom
Shervanthi Homer-Vanniasinkam, Raghu Adya, Ramesh P Arasaradnam, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
Shervanthi Homer-Vanniasinkam, Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, Faulty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
Shervanthi Homer-Vanniasinkam, Division of Surgical and Interventional Sciences, UCL Medical School Building, 21 University Street, London WC1E 6AU, United Kingdom
Ramesh P Arasaradnam, Applied Biological and Experimental Sciences, University of Coventry, Coventry CV1 5FB, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Tabuso M wrote the manuscript, performed the literature search and contributed to intellectual content of the manuscript; Homer-Vanniasinkam S contributed to intellectual content; Adya R contributed to intellectual design and content of the manuscript, wrote the editorial, performed literature search and has given final approval of the final version; Arasaradnam RP contributed to intellectual content and critically revised the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Raghu Adya, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom. r.adya@warwick.ac.uk
Telephone: +44-2476-573539
Received: March 28, 2017
Peer-review started: April 1, 2017
First decision: May 5, 2017
Revised: June 25, 2017
Accepted: August 1, 2017
Article in press: August 2, 2017
Published online: August 28, 2017
Processing time: 153 Days and 0.8 Hours
Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a multifactorial disease characterized by several genetic and epigenetic alterations occurring in epithelial cells. It is increasingly recognized that tumour progression is also regulated by tumour microenvironment (TME). The bidirectional cross-talk between tumour resident adipocytes and cancer cells within TME has been proposed as active contributor to carcinogenesis. Tumour resident adipocytes exhibit an activated phenotype characterized by increased secretion of pro-tumorigenic factors (angiogenic/inflammatory/immune) which contribute to cancer cell proliferation, invasion, neoangiogenesis, evasion of immune surveillance and therapy resistance. Furthermore, adipocytes represent a fuel rich source for increasing energy demand of rapidly proliferating tumour cells. Interestingly, a relationship between obesity and molecular variants in CRC has recently been identified. Whether adipose tissue promotes cancer progression in subsets of molecular phenotypes or whether local tissue adipocytes are involved in inactivation of tumour suppressor genes and/or activation of oncogenes still needs to be explored. This editorial highlights the major findings related to cross-talk between adipocytes and colon cancer cells and how local paracrine interactions may promote cancer progression. Furthermore, we provide future strategies in studying colonic TME which could provide insights in bidirectional cross-talk mechanisms between adipocytes and colonic epithelial cells. This could enable to decipher critical signalling pathways of both early colonic carcinogenesis and cancer progression.

Keywords: Tumour resident adipocytes; Dysfunctional adipocytes; Adipose tissue; Cancer cell-tumour resident adipocyte cross-talk; Colon cancer microenvironment

Core tip: The tumor microenvironment (TME) has been implicated in cancer progression and chemoresistance. Adipocytes are active components of the TME. Bidirectional cross-talk between adipocytes and cancer cells has recently been postulated to actively contribute to tumor initiation and progression. This Editorial highlights the role of local paracrine interactions between adipocytes and colon cancer cells. Discovery of signalling pathways activated by tumor resident adipocytes in colon cancer will allow better understanding of carcinogenesis and provide potential therapeutic targets.