AACR 2022 | Adipose-derived extracellular vesicles – new players in the obesity-breast cancer link

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a means of bidirectional communication between cells, and through transferring various cargo including nucleic acids, proteins and metabolites, EVs are able to alter the function of the recipient cell. Kristy A. Brown, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, describes a study investigating the hypothesis that particular factors produced by adipose tissue and transported by EVs can contribute to the proliferation of breast cancer cells and EVs derived from obese individuals differ to those of lean individuals, thereby eliciting distinct effects. The study demonstrated that EVs derived from obese individuals promote the proliferation of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer cells via increasing mitochondrial mass and stimulating mitochondrial respiration. This interview took place at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.