The transformation of white fat into brown fat may be beneficial for the prevention of prostate cancer

2023-10-31 13:46:20

Prostate cancer is one of the tumors with the highest incidence among adult men in Western countries; In fact, one in nine men over 65 years of age will develop invasive prostate cancer with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. In this type of tumor, the total percentage of body fat increases the risk of suffering from it, since adipose tissue is one of the major components of the tumor environment. Likewise, it is also known that both white fat, more studied, and brown fat, less researched, can affect tumor development.

A research group from the University Institute of Oncology of the Principality of Asturias (IUOPA) of the University of Oviedo has revealed that the transformation of white fat into brown can be very beneficial in terms of prevention and control of tumor growth. The study is published in the journal Cell Communication and Signaling,

Rosa María Sainz, director of the IUOPA and principal investigator of the work, recalls that some research groups have demonstrated the negative role that white adipose tissue, the most common type of fat, has on tumor progression. However, over the last decade, the role of brown adipose tissue has been gaining attention in the field of health.

“Brown fat is a form of fat that generates heat and that disappears with age, being reduced to small tissue niches near the kidneys, thymus or at the base of the neck. It is a type of fat common in the adipose tissue of babies (layer of adipose tissue under the skin) and its purpose is to maintain their body temperature,” the researcher points out.

Brown fat is a form of heat-generating fat that disappears with age

Rosa María Sainz, director of the IUOPA

“We also know that the generation of brown fat can be promoted by exposure to cold, through physical exercise or through intake of some foods and has been proposed, in the context of metabolic diseases, as an effective tool to maintain good health. However, its role in cancer had not been clearly studied,” he adds.

For this reason, the objective of the work of this group of researchers from the University of Oviedo focused on studying the role of androgens – the male hormones essential for growth in prostate cancer – in the control of tissue content. white and brown adipose in the prostate tumor environment. In addition, he analyzed how the presence of brown fat could affect tumor progression.

Regulate tumor proliferation processes

Their findings demonstrated, for the first time, that brown fat can be controlled by hormones, in particular circulating testosterone levels. “Our data show that while white fat, typical of obesity, contributes to tumor growth and progression, the presence of brown fat in the tumor environment prevents its growth,” he emphasizes. Alejandro Alvarez Artimefirst signatory of the article.

“These results led us to conclude that the Androgens play a key role in the mechanisms that dominate the presence of white or brown fat in the prostate tumor microenvironment. On the other hand, brown fat cells, in addition to being beneficial for other metabolic diseases, are capable of regulating the processes that govern the proliferation and survival of tumor cells in the prostate – he adds – so the transformation of white fat into brown can be very beneficial in terms of prevention and control of tumor growth.”

Androgens play a key role in the mechanisms that dominate the presence of white or brown fat in the prostate tumor microenvironment

Alejandro Alvarez Artime, first signatory of the article

The researchers reached these conclusions after conducting studies with TRAMP mice, transgenic animals that develop prostate cancer. “We found that, in these mice, the white and brown fat content was altered by the absence of androgens, describing for the first time the appearance of adipose tissue brown near the prostate after the elimination of circulating testosterone”, says Álvarez Artime.

“We demonstrated in cellular models that blocking the androgenic signal caused an increase in UCP-1 or thermogenin, the protein that appears in the mitochondria of brown adipose cells and is responsible for heat generation. And finally, we observed how the brown adipocytes that appear after the elimination of androgens were capable of communicate with the tumor cells through the production of extracellular vesicles that both alive as in vitro They reduce cell growth and the size of tumors implanted in mice,” concludes María Sainz.

Reference:

Alvarez-Artime, A., Garcia-Soler, B., Gonzalez-Menendez, P. et al. “Castration promotes the browning of the prostate tumor microenvironment.” Cell Commun Signal

Fuente:

Oviedo University

Rights: Creative Commons.