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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Feb 9.
Published in final edited form as: J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2013 Nov 10;18(0):309–320. doi: 10.1007/s10911-013-9308-2

Figure 1. Endocrine, paracrine and autocrine actions of leptin.

Figure 1

Leptin circulates at high levels in obese conditions and impacts breast tumor growth in an endocrine manner. Resident adipocytes secrete leptin in breast tumor microenvironment and act on the infiltrating breast cancer cells exhibiting paracrine effect of leptin. A direct autocrine effect of leptin is observed when leptin secreted from breast tumor cells impacts tumor growth acting via leptin receptors present on the breast tumor cells.