Yin-yang effect of tumour cells in breast cancer: from mechanism of crosstalk between tumour-associated macrophages and cancer-associated adipocytes

Abstract

Currently, adipocytes and macrophages are considered to be key cell types of breast cancer (BC) tissues. With the emergence of crown-like structures (CLS), cancer-associated adipocytes (CAAs) and tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) are formed respectively in tumor microenvironment (TME). Both of them affect the progress of breast cancer, while forming crosstalk in the tumour tissue. CAAs play an important role, which produces hypoxia and inflammation environment and aggravates this environment. The formation and secretion of TAMs with M2 phenotypic characteristics, such as HIF-1α, and TNF-α, affect the progress of cancer cells by interfering with the secretion of MCP-1 by CAAs. Therefore, the interaction between CAAs and TAMs may be an effective therapeutic target for breast cancer. In this review, we focus on the biological effects of two types of cells in breast cancer, in order to better explain the crosstalk between them and provide new ideas for the future treatment of breast cancer.

Keywords: Breast cancer; cancer-associated adipocytes; crosstalk; tumour-associated macrophages.