Figure 1.

PC cells stimulate delipidation in mature adipocytes. (A) FABP4-stained adipocytes at the invasive front of the tumor exhibited smaller lipid droplets compared with normal adipocytes. (B) The cell diameters of tumor-surrounding adipocytes and normal adipocytes are presented. For each patient, fifty adipocytes were randomly selected in tumor-surrounding adipose tissue or normal adipose tissue, respectively, and the maximum diameter of each adipocyte was calculated. Data are presented in the box plots as the mean ± standard deviation. (C) Left, schematic of the indirect coculture system. Right, experimental timeline of the coculture approach. After 8 days of differentiation, mature 3T3-L1 adipocytes were cultured with or without pancreatic cancer cells for another 5 days and harvested. (D) Mature adipocytes cocultured with or without Panc-1 tumor cells were stained with red oil. (E) A decrease in the size of lipid droplets in adipocytes following coculture with Panc-1 for 5 days was observed. PC, pancreatic cancer.