In vitro analysis of markers associated with obesity and breast cancer in 3T3-L1 cell lines differentiated to adipocytes on transcriptional and translational level

Obesity is an epidemic disease characterized by chronic low-grade inflammation associated with a dysfunctional fat mass and is considered to be one of the most important health problems worldwide. As a result of obesity, pathological remodeling of white adipose tissue and increased levels of fat-specific cytokines have been associated with the continuous proliferative signaling, inflammation, angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis that are hallmarks of breast cancer. Studies have shown that the relationship between obesity and breast cancer depends on the microenvironment formed around adipose tissue containing inflammatory cytokines. But how the microenvironment affects breast cancer is not exactly understood. In this study, 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cells were used to analyze the alteration in the expression levels of selected markers associated with obesity and breast cancer due to the specialized differentiation of adipocyte cells, which is an important component of adipose tissue. Transcriptional and translational expression levels of obesity-associated markers LPL, FAS and PPAR-γ, and breast cancer-associated markers BRCA1, BRCA2 and HER2 (erbB-2) were analyzed in non-differentiated and fully differentiated adipocyte cells. Expressions of these markers appear to be increased in differentiated adipocyte cells compared to controls at transcriptional and/or translation levels.