Additionally, upon performing Oil Red O staining, we observed a higher number of lipid droplets within the cytoplasm of HCT116 cells incubated with CM from adipocytes pretreated with MIIP+/− cancer cell CM, in comparison to cells incubated with CM from WT cells (MIIP+/+) or the conventional medium (McCoy’s 5A) (Additional file 1: Fig. S7f, g). Here, MIIP is linked to cancer.