Tumor-associated and control mammary adipose tissue in lean and high fat diet-induced obese mice

To investigate the crosstalk between a growing breast cancer tumor and adjacent adipose tissue, we set up an breast cancer mouse model and compared the gene expression between control and tumor-associated adipose tissue. Female mice, fed either regular chow or high fat diet for 16 weeks, were injected with E0771 cancer cells resuspended in PBS mixed with Matrigel into their left inguinal/mammary fat pad (tumor-associated inguinal adipose tissue) while their right inguinal fat pad (control inguinal adipose tissue) received PBS-Matrigel solution alone. Tumor-associated and control IWAT were collected two weeks after cancer cell injections.