Lack of fibro-inflammatory response in human mammary adipose tissue in obesity.

Background: Understanding how obesity impacts human mammary adipose tissue (MAT) biology is crucial for deciphering its role in mammary epithelium during both physiological and pathophysiological processes, including breast cancer. Hypertrophic mammary adipocytes and Crown-Like Structures are present in MAT of patients with obesity but whether these changes initiate a fibro-inflammatory response at the tissue level remains insufficiently explored.

Objective: We investigated the markers of adipose tissue dysfunction (immune cell infiltration, secretion pattern and fibrosis) in tumor-free MAT of patients with obesity versus patients who are lean.

[Breast cancer, obesity and adipose tissue: a high-risk combination].

Obesity increases the occurrence of post-menopausal breast cancer and negatively affects prognosis independently of menopausal status. After summarizing the available epidemiological data concerning these associations, we will show that a deleterious crosstalk is established during tumor progression between cancer cells and the surrounding mammary adipose tissue (MAT). In obesity, the chronic sub-inflammatory state of MAT could amplify the negative effect of this crosstalk although other mechanisms also warrant further study.