From Dr. Lorenzo Cohen, Director of Integrative Medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center:

“When we think about fat in the body, we often picture it as passive storage—an energy reserve that just sits there until needed. But current research has been steadily dismantling that view. Fat is far from inert. It’s kind of like an active organ that communicates with the rest of the body through hormones, immune signals, and, as a fascinating new study shows, even direct physical connections with cancer cells.

“In research published this week, scientists discovered that breast cancer cells can form tiny “bridges” with nearby fat cells called gap junctions. These gap junctions allow cancer cells to literally siphon off energy from fat cells. The cancer cells send signals that trigger the fat cells to break down their stored lipids, a process called lipolysis. The released fatty acids then get shuttled back into the cancer cells, feeding their growth and survival.

“In other words, tumors don’t just grow on their own—they recruit fat cells to help fuel their expansion. This study is one of the clearest demonstrations yet of how fat tissue is not just correlated with cancer but can be an active partner in cancer’s progression.”