Obesity is one of the major factors threatening human health. Excessive fat accumulation not only has detrimental effects on human metabolism and cardiovascular system, but also is highly correlated to the incidence and mortality of various tumors. Fatty acid binding protein-4 (FABP4) is a small molecule protein mainly expressed in adipocytes and macrophages, and is responsible for participating in fatty acid transport and lipid response. It has been found that FABP4 levels are not only associated with body fat content, but also aberrantly expressed in various obesity-associated tumor cells and tumor microenvironment, which is closely related to obesity-associated carcinogenesis, metastasis, recurrence and patient prognosis. Since FABP4 expression varies in different types of obesity-associated tumors, suggesting a complex role of FABP4 in tumorigenesis. Based on this, this article reviews different roles of FABP4 in multiple obesity-associated tumors.
WU Ruifang, FENG Ming, MENG Jian. Review of role of fatty acid binding protein-4 in obesity-associated tumors. Journal of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Medical Science)[J], 2023, 43(10): 1311-1316 doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-8115.2023.10.013
肥胖环境下，肿瘤的微环境不仅富含脂肪酸，还含有大量的免疫细胞及炎症因子。近期有研究揭示，FABP4在IL-17A调控肿瘤细胞增殖中具有重要作用［21］，即IL-17A可通过激活信号转导及转录激活蛋白3（signal transducer and activator of transcription 3，STAT3）信号通路来转录激活FABP4，进而依赖FABP4而非经典的脂肪酸转位酶（fatty acid translocase，FAT或CD36）途径增加卵巢癌细胞对脂肪酸的摄取和利用。同时，越来越多的研究［22-23］也发现FABP4能够促进卵巢癌的进展，且其高表达和卵巢癌患者的不良预后密切相关。这些研究从与脂肪细胞联系的角度诠释了卵巢癌发生、发展的机制，揭示出FABP4在富含脂肪的肿瘤微环境中介导卵巢癌进展的重要作用。
The manuscript was drafted by WU Ruifang, and was revised by WU Ruifang, FENG Ming and MENG Jian. All the authors have read the last version of paper and consented for submission.
利益冲突声明
所有作者声明不存在利益冲突。
All authors disclose no relevant conflict of interests.
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