Epidemiological studies have shown that obese subjects have an increased risk of developing triple‐negative breast cancer (TNBC) and an overall reduced survival. However, the relation between obesity and TNBC remains difficult to understand. We hypothesize that apelin, an adipokine whose levels are increased in obesity, could be a major factor contributing to both tumour growth and metastatization in TNBC obese patients. We observed that development of obesity under high‐fat diet in TNBC tumour‐bearing mice significantly increased tumour growth. By showing no effect of high‐fat diet in obesity‐resistant mice, we demonstrated the necessity to develop obesity‐related disorders to increase tumour growth. Apelin mRNA expression was also increased in the subcutaneous adipose tissue and tumours of obese mice. We further highlighted that the reproduction of obesity‐related levels of apelin in lean mice led to an increased TNBC growth and brain metastases formation. Finally, injections of the apelinergic antagonist F13A to obese mice significantly reduced TNBC growth, suggesting that apelinergic system interference could be an interesting therapeutic strategy in the context of obesity and TNBC.

中文翻译：

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肥胖和三阴性乳腺癌：apelin是一个新的关键靶点吗？

流行病学研究表明，肥胖患者罹患三阴性乳腺癌（TNBC）的风险增加，并且总体生存率降低。但是，肥胖与TNBC之间的关系仍然难以理解。我们假设肥胖症中水平升高的脂肪蛋白apelin可能是导致TNBC肥胖患者肿瘤生长和转移的主要因素。我们观察到，在高脂饮食下，TNBC荷瘤小鼠肥胖的发展显着增加了肿瘤的生长。通过显示对肥胖抵抗小鼠没有高脂饮食的影响，我们证明了发展与肥胖有关的疾病以增加肿瘤生长的必要性。肥胖小鼠的皮下脂肪组织和肿瘤中Apelin mRNA表达也增加。我们进一步强调指出，瘦小鼠中肥胖相关水平的apelin的繁殖导致TNBC生长增加和脑转移形成。最后，向肥胖小鼠注射精胺能拮抗剂F13A显着降低了TNBC的生长，这表明在肥胖症和TNBC的背景下，精胺能系统干扰可能是一种有趣的治疗策略。