The connection between obesity and accelerated cancer progression has been established, but the mediating mechanisms are not well understood. We have shown that stromal cells from white adipose tissue (WAT) cooperate with the endothelium to promote blood vessel formation through the secretion of soluble trophic factors. Here, we hypothesize that WAT directly mediates cancer progression by serving as a source of cells that migrate to tumors and promote neovascularization. To test this hypothesis, we have evaluated the recruitment of WAT-derived cells by tumors and the effect of their engraftment on tumor growth by integrating a transgenic mouse strain engineered for expansion of traceable cells with established allograft and xenograft cancer models. Our studies show that entry of adipose stromal and endothelial cells into systemic circulation leads to their homing to and engraftment into tumor stroma and vasculature, respectively. We show that recruitment of adipose stromal cells by tumors is sufficient to promote tumor growth. Finally, we show that migration of stromal and vascular progenitor cells from WAT grafts to tumors is also associated with acceleration of cancer progression. These results provide a biological insight for the clinical association between obesity and cancer, thus outlining potential avenues for preventive and therapeutic strategies.

Epidemiologic studies associate cancer with obesity, but the pathophysiologic connections remain obscure. In this study, we show that obesity facilitates tumor growth in mice irrespective of concurrent diet, suggesting a direct effect of excess white adipose tissue (WAT). When transplanted into mice, adipose stromal cells (ASC) can serve as perivascular adipocyte progenitors that promote tumor growth, perhaps helping explain the obesitycancer link. In developing this hypothesis, we showed that ASCs are expanded in obesity and that they traffic from endogenous WAT to tumors in several mouse models of cancer. Strikingly, a comparison of circulating and tumorinfiltrating cell populations in lean, and obese mice revealed that cancer induces a six-fold increase of ASC frequency in the systemic circulation. We obtained evidence that ASCs mobilized in this way can be recruited into tumors, where they can be incorporated into blood vessels as pericytes and they can differentiate into adipocytes in an obesity-dependent manner. Extending this evidence, we found that increased tumor vascularization (reflected by changes in tumor vascular morphology and a two-fold increase in vascular density) was associated with intratumoral adipocytes and elevated proliferation of neighboring malignant cells. Taken together, our results suggest that ASCs recruited from endogenous adipose tissue can be recruited by tumors to potentiate the supportive properties of the tumor microenvironment. Cancer Res; 72(20); 5198-208. Ó2012 AACR.

Adipose stromal cells (ASCs) serve as mesenchymal progenitors in white adipose tissue (WAT). Intercellular interactions involving ASCs have remained obscure. By merging phage display technology with fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), we screened a combinatorial library for peptides that target mouse ASCs in vivo. We isolated peptide CSWKYWFGEC that specifically homes to ASCs, used it as bait to purify the corresponding ASC surface receptor, and identified it as a previously unreported cleavage product of decorin (DCN) lacking the glycanation site (termed ΔDCN). We demonstrate that ΔDCN is differentially expressed on ASC surface. In a screen for ΔDCN-binding proteins, we identified resistin, an adipokine for which the receptor has been unknown. Expression of ΔDCN in 3T3-L1 cells promoted proliferation and migration but suppressed lipid accumulation upon adipogenesis induction, which was resistin dependent. We conclude that ΔDCN serves as a functional receptor of resistin in adipocyte progenitors and may regulate WAT expansion.

Purpose Adipose tissue contains a population of tumor-tropic mesenchymal progenitors, termed adipose stromal cells (ASC), which engraft in neighboring tumors to form supportive tumor stroma. We hypothesized that intra-abdominal visceral adipose tissue may contain a uniquely tumor promoting population of ASC to account for the relationship between excess visceral adipose tissue and mortality of intra-abdominal cancers. Experimental Design To investigate this, we isolated and characterized ASC from intra-abdominal omental adipose tissue (O-ASC) and characterized their effects on endometrial cancer progression as compared to subcutaneous adipose derived mesenchymal stromal cells (SC-ASC), bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BM-MSC) and lung fibroblasts. To model chronic recruitment of ASC by tumors, cells were injected metronomically into mice bearing Hec1a xenografts. Results O-ASC expressed cell surface markers characteristic of BM-MSC and differentiated into mesenchymal lineages. Co-culture with O-ASC increased endometrial cancer cell proliferation in-vitro. Tumor tropism of O-ASC and SC-ASC for human Hec1a endometrial tumor xenografts was comparable, but O-ASC more potently promoted tumor growth. Compared with tumors in SC-ASC-injected mice, tumors in O-ASC-injected mice contained higher numbers of large tortuous desmin-positive blood vessels, which correlated with decreased central tumor necrosis and increased tumor cell proliferation. O-ASC-exhibited enhanced motility as compared to SC-ASC in response to Hec1a secreted factors. Conclusions Visceral adipose contains a population of multipotent MSC that promote endometrial tumor growth more potently than MSC from subcutaneous adipose tissue. We propose that O-ASC recruited to tumors express specific factors that enhance tumor vascularization, promoting survival and proliferation of tumor cells.

During mouse eye development, the correct formation of the lens occurs as a result of reciprocal interactions between the neuroectoderm that forms the retina and surface ectoderm that forms the lens. Although many transcription factors required for early lens development have been identified, the mechanism and genetic interactions mediated by them remain poorly understood. Foxe3 encodes a winged helix-forkhead transcription factor that is initially expressed in the developing brain and in the lens placode and later restricted exclusively to the anterior lens epithelium. Here, we show that targeted disruption of Foxe3 results in abnormal development of the eye. Cells of the anterior lens epithelium show a decreased rate of proliferation, resulting in a smaller than normal lens. The anterior lens epithelium does not properly separate from the cornea and frequently forms an unusual, multilayered tissue. Because of the abnormal differentiation, lens fiber cells do not form properly, and the morphogenesis of the lens is greatly affected. The abnormally differentiated lens cells remain irregular in shape, and the lens becomes vacuolated. The defects in lens development correlate with changes in the expression of growth and differentiation factor genes, including DNase II-like acid DNase, Prox1, p57, and PDGF␣ receptor. As a result of abnormal lens development, the cornea and the retina are also affected. While Foxe3 is also expressed in a distinct region of the embryonic brain, we have not observed abnormal development of the brain in Foxe3 ؊/؊ animals.

Rx is a homeobox-containing gene that is critical for vertebrate eye development. Its expression domain delineates a field of cells from which the retina and the ventral hypothalamus develop. The 5' upstream regulatory sequences of the medaka fish Rx gene are functionally conserved during evolution to a degree that they direct gene expression into the Rx-expressing field of cells in mice. Using these sequences, we made a Cre line that can be used for inactivation of gene expression in the developing retina.

Regulation of gene expression through alternative pre-mRNA splicing appears to occur in all metazoans, but most of our knowledge about splicing regulators derives from studies on genetically identified factors from Drosophila.Among the best studied of these is the transformer-2 (TRA-2) protein which, in combination with the transformer (TRA) protein, directs sex-specific splicing of pre-mRNA from the sex determination gene doublesex (dsx). Here we report the identification of htra-2a, a human homologue of tra-2. Two alternative types of htra-2a cDNA clones were identified that encode different protein isoforms with striking organizational similarity to Drosophila tra-2 proteins. When expressed in flies, one hTRA-2a isoform partially replaces the function of Drosophila TRA-2, affecting both female sexual differentiation and alternative splicing of dsx pre-mRNA. Like Drosophila TRA-2, the ability of hTRA-2a to regulate d&x is femalespecific and depends on the presence of the dsx splicing enhancer. These results demonstrate that htra-2a has conserved a striking degree of functional specificity during evolution and leads us to suggest that, although they are likely to serve different roles in development, the tra-2 products of flies and humans have similar molecular functions.Despite the fact that a large fraction of identified cellular pre-mRNAs undergo alternative splicing, few vertebrate factors have been identified that affect splicing patterns. Of those factors so far studied, the evidence for a role in the regulation of splicing is best for the SR proteins, a family of RNA binding proteins that contain extensive regions rich in arginine and serine (RS domains) (for review, see ref. 1). Several lines of evidence suggest these domains may facilitate interactions with other RNA binding proteins. While SR proteins are known to play vital roles during constitutive pre-mRNA splicing both in the initiation of spliceosome assembly and in interactions between small nuclear ribonucleoproteins they have also been shown to affect the selection of alternative 5' splice sites in a variety of artificial and natural substrates in a concentration dependent manner. In addition, several SR proteins are known to interact with the purine-rich splicing enhancer elements found in some vertebrate exons. While these observations strongly suggest a role for SR proteins in regulating splicing, there is still little direct evidence that vertebrate SR proteins normally direct the developmentally specific alternative splicing of any particular cellular pre-mRNAs in vivo.Proteins with established roles in developmental regulation of splicing have been identified in Drosophila through genetic analysis (2-7). Many of these proteins form a cascade of splicing factors that directs sexual differentiation in the fly. Two SR-related proteins, encoded by the transformer (tra) and transformer-2 (tra-2) genes, play a central role in this pathway (8). However, unlike the vertebrate SR proteins described above, these SR-related splicing factors...

Overgrowth of white adipose tissue (WAT) in obesity occurs as a result of adipocyte hypertrophy and hyperplasia. Expansion and renewal of adipocytes relies on proliferation and differentiation of white adipocyte progenitors (WAP); however, the requirement of WAP for obesity development has not been proven. Here, we investigate whether depletion of WAP can be used to prevent WAT expansion. We test this approach by using a hunter-killer peptide designed to induce apoptosis selectively in WAP. We show that targeted WAP cytoablation results in a long-term WAT growth suppression despite increased caloric intake in a mouse diet-induced obesity model. Our data indicate that WAP depletion results in a compensatory population of adipose tissue with beige adipocytes. Consistent with reported thermogenic capacity of beige adipose tissue, WAP-depleted mice display increased energy expenditure. We conclude that targeting of white adipocyte progenitors could be developed as a strategy to sustained modulation of WAT metabolic activity.