Novel roles of adipocytes in the mammary gland development and breast cancer progression, and involvement of adipokines in the roles

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The mammary gland develops in subcutaneous adipose tissue in the post natal period, and adipocytes function as a nursing cell for epithelial cells. With hypertrophy of adipocytes, ductal development of mammary gland in non-pregnant mice was impaired. Hypertrophy of adipocytes also delayed side-branch formation from the duct in the early phase of pregnancy, and acinar formation and its maturation in the mid-and late phase of pregnancy. Hypertrophy of adipocytes caused hyper-leptinemia, and leptin mimicked some effects by hypertrophy of adipocytes both in vivo and in vitro. Therefore, it was suggested that hypertrophy of adipocytes suppressed mammary gland development and leptin partly played a role in the suppression.