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Updated: Oct 27, 2025
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Isolation of Adipose Tissue Immune Cells
Published on: May 22, 2013
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Type 2 immunity is maintained during cancer-associated adipose tissue wasting
Patrick J Lenehan1,2, Assunta Cirella1, Amiko M Uchida1,3
1Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
Immunotherapy Advances
|July 22, 2021
Summary
Cancer cachexia involves significant fat and muscle loss. Unlike obesity, visceral adipose tissue in cancer cachexia shows maintained regulatory immune cells, despite elevated IL-6, suggesting unique immune dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Metabolic Disorders
- Oncology
Background:
- Cachexia, a metabolic disorder causing fat and muscle loss, significantly affects cancer patients.
- Immune system alterations in obesity-related adipose tissue pathologies are known, but not in cancer cachexia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the immune microenvironment of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in cancer-associated cachexia.
- To compare immune profiles in VAT during cachexia versus other adipose tissue pathologies.
Main Methods:
- Bulk RNA-sequencing of VAT.
- Cytokine array analysis.
- Flow cytometry for immune cell characterization in cancer models and patients.
Main Results:
- Elevated Interleukin-6 (IL-6) in wasting VAT of cancer-bearing mice.
- Maintenance of regulatory type 2 immune landscape in cachectic VAT.
- Absence of Th1/Th17 skewing; presence of Th2 signature with IL-33 and eotaxin-2 in colorectal cancer VAT, alongside high IL-6.
Conclusions:
- Visceral adipose tissue in cancer cachexia may not exhibit the drastic immune compositional changes seen in obese adipose tissue.
- This study establishes a foundational framework for future immunological research into cancer-associated cachexia.
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