Fig. 3

Adipose stromal/stem cells isolated from obese women (obASC)-derived leptin increases invasion of breast cancer cells (BCCs). BCC cells were co-cultured (CC) with adipose stromal/stem cells isolated from lean women (lnASCs) or obASCs stably transfected with a control short hairpin RNA (control shRNA) or leptin shRNA (leptin shRNA) for 7 days. Green fluorescent protein-positive BCC cells were isolated with FACS and plated in the top chamber of a, an uncoated 8-μm pore membrane, and assessed after 4 hours for migratory potential or b, a Matrigel-coated 8-μm pore membrane and assessed after 24 hours for invasive capacity. Medium containing FBS was plated in the lower chamber and served as a chemoattractant. Data are shown relative to cells without prior exposure to lnASCs or obASCs. Bar represents ± standard error of the mean: *P <0.05, ***P <0.001 relative to BCCs cultured alone; ^## P <0.01 for comparison between BCCs after co-culture with control shRNA lnASCs and control shRNA obASCs; ^Φ P <0.05, ^ΦΦ P <0.01 between BCCs after co-culture with control shRNA obASCs and letpin shRNA obASCs