Figure 3.

Adipose structure and function drive tumorigenesis. Overconsumption results in lean adipose tissue expansion to either hypertrophic metabolically unhealthy adipose tissue or hyperplastic metabolically healthy adipose tissue. The metabolically unhealthy adipose creates a pro-tumorigenic environment with increased immune cell infiltration, pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion, and increased free fatty acid release, which drive progression from a benign epithelium toward tumour growth and ultimately metastasis to a greater extent than metabolically healthy adipose. EMT, epithelial–mesenchymal transition; Th, helper T cells; NK, natural killer; Treg, regulatory T cells; ↑, increase; ↓, decrease. This figure was created using Biorender.com (accessed on 7 August 2023).