Adiponectin, Obesity, and Cancer: Clash of the Bigwigs in Health and Disease

Abstract

Adiponectin is one of the most important adipocytokines secreted by adipocytes and is called a “guardian angel adipocytokine” owing to its unique biological functions. Adiponectin inversely correlates with body fat mass and visceral adiposity. Identified independently by four different research groups, adiponectin has multiple names; Acrp30, apM1, GBP28, and AdipoQ. Adiponectin mediates its biological functions via three known receptors, AdipoR1, AdipoR2, and T-cadherin, which are distributed throughout the body. Biological functions of adiponectin are multifold ranging from anti-diabetic, anti-atherogenic, anti-inflammatory to anti-cancer. Lower adiponectin levels have been associated with metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases, and hypertension. A plethora of experimental evidence supports the role of obesity and increased adiposity in multiple cancers including breast, liver, pancreatic, prostrate, ovarian, and colorectal cancers. Obesity mediates its effect on cancer progression via dysregulation of adipocytokines including increased production of oncogenic adipokine leptin along with decreased production of adiponectin. Multiple studies have shown the protective role of adiponectin in obesity-associated diseases and cancer. Adiponectin modulates multiple signaling pathways to exert its physiological and protective functions. Many studies over the years have shown the beneficial effect of adiponectin in cancer regression and put forth various innovative ways to increase adiponectin levels.

Post-Translational Protein Deimination Signatures in Serum and Serum-Extracellular Vesicles of Bos taurus Reveal Immune, Anti-Pathogenic, Anti-Viral, Metabolic and Cancer-Related Pathways for Deimination

“…Fat digestion and absorption was identified as a KEGG pathway in both cow serum and serum-EVs alongside adiponectin as a specific target. The adipocytokine signalling pathway has key regulatory roles in metabolism and glucose regulation [170][171][172][173] and is linked to a range of pathologies, including type II diabetes and insulin resistance [174], to myopathies [175] and cancer [176]. Adiponectin has also been linked to longevity [177] and to regenerative functions [178].…”

The role of adiponectin in placentation and preeclampsia

“…Adiponectin levels correlate inversely with gestational age in normal‐weight pregnant women but not in overweight women and, in the third trimester, fall significantly as compared with the levels in the first trimester . The increase in maternal fat deposition during the progression of pregnancy, the inverse relationship between adiponectin and body fats, and the downregulation of adiponectin by increased fat mass explain this observation. Nevertheless, a study showed that adiponectin levels do not change with advancing gestation, but the smaller sample size used by these researchers renders this conflicting observation unreliable.…”

Deiminated proteins in extracellular vesicles and serum of llama (Lama glama)—Novel insights into camelid immunity

“…Adiponectin is furthermore linked to longevity (Chen et al, 2019a(Chen et al, , 2019b, regenerative functions (Fiaschi et al, 2014) and has roles in myopathies, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and collagen VI-related myopathies (Gamberi et al, 2019). Adiponectin is also implicated in a range of cancers, often in relation to obesity (Parida et al, 2019). Furthermore, adiponectin plays roles in reproduction, embryo pre-implantation and embryonic development (Barbe et al, 2019).…”