Fig. 5

Leptin inhibition in adipose stromal/stem cells isolated from obese women (obASCs) reduces tumor volume. MCF7 cells were prepared alone or co-injected with control short hairpin shRNA (control shRNA) obASCs or leptin shRNA obASCs (1:1 ratio) into the mammary fat pad of SCID/beige mice (n = 5 mice/group). a Tumor volume was assessed every 3–4 days. b Representative tumors from each mouse (n = 5/group). Scale bar represents 1 cm. c Tumor weight on day 36. d Representative images of H&E, green fluorescent protein (GFP) staining, and dsRed staining of tumor sections visualized at × 10 and × 40 magnification (inset). Scale bar represents 50 μm. Bar represents ± standard error of the mean. *P <0.001 relative to MCF7 xenografts; ^Φ P <0.001 for comparison between MCF7 plus control shRNA obASC xenografts and MCF7 plus leptin shRNA obASC xenografts