Table I.

Examples of cancer associated adipocyte-derived adipocytokines.

Factor	Receptor	Pathways/key genes	Function	(Refs.)
Leptin	OBR	ER signal, JAK/STAT3, PI3K/AKT, IL-1/IL-1R, VEGF/VEGFR, FAK and SRC-1/STAT3	Proliferation, differentiation, metastasis, self-renewal and chemoresistance and angiogenesis	(52,90,93–98)
Adiponectin	AdipoR1/AdipoR2	ERK1/2, AKT, TNFα, IL-1β, NF-κB, IL-6, IL-8, STK11 and AMPK/ULK1, AMPK and PI3K/AKT	Negatively regulating cancer cell growth, autophagy, inhibiting proliferation and invasion	(5,101)
CCL2	CCR2/4	Notch1, CXCL12 and CLS	Inducing the activity of CSCs, inflammation and malignant progression	(111–114)
CCL5	CCR5	ERK, EMT, AKT/mTOR	Inflammation, poor DFS and OS	(119,120,123)
IL-6	IL-6R/gp130	NF-κB, STAT3, EMT	Migration, proliferation, invasion and pro-inflammatory response	(134,135,138)

CCL, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand; CCR, C-C chemokine receptor type; OBR, leptin receptor; AdipoR, adiponectin receptor; IL-6R, IL-6 receptor; gp130, glycoprotein 130; ER, estrogen receptor; JAK, Janus kinase; IL-1R, IL-1 receptor; FAK, focal adhesion kinase; SRC-1, steroid receptor coactivator-1; STK11, serine/threonine kinase 11; AMPK, adenosine 5′-monophosphate-activated protein kinase; ULK1, Unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase; CXCL12, chemokine (C-x-C motif) ligand 12; CLS, crown-like structure; CSC, cancer stem cell; EMT, epithelial-mesenchymal transition; DFS, disease-free survival; OS, overall survival.