cartilage tissue (46). However, elevated CTRP3 may also be detrimental as CTRP3 is highly secreted from and increases growth rates of osteosarcoma and chondroblastoma tumor cell lines indicating that CTRP3 may be linked to these types of cancers (54).However, no cancers have been reported in CTRP3 transgenic overexpressing mice, although this has not been specifically examined. Lastly, CTRP3 is specifically expressed in the testosterone producing interstitial Leydig cells and treatment of TM3 mouse Leydig cells with CTRP3 increased testosterone production (47). Although these findings may shed some light on the discrepancy between male and female in circulating CTRP3 levels, the overall clinical significance has yet to be explored.
