Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston found that tumours emit a signal that attracts fat progenitor cells from white adipose tissue.
These cells in turn support the network of blood vessels that nourish tumours - a process called tumour angiogenesis.
"For the first time, we have demonstrated that excess fat is a key factor in cancer progression regardless of the diet contributing to the extra weight," senior author Mikhail Kolonin said.
"In an attempt to understand how fat tissue fuels tumour growth, our laboratory has focused on a possible role of adipose stromal progenitor cells. These cells serve as stem cells in fat tissue. We have discovered that they expand in obesity and are mobilised into the systemic circulation," Kolonin said in a statement.
"Our experiments show that fat progenitors are recruited by tumours, where they incorporate into blood vessels and become fat cells," said Yan Zhang, study's lead author.
"We found that obese animal fat progenitor cells recruited by tumors improved vascular function and, therefore, increased survival and proliferation of cancer cells," Zhang said.
"The next step in this research would be to inactivate fat progenitor cells in an effort to slow cancer progression," said Kolonin.
The study was published in journal Cancer Research.
