Metabolic

LSU Health New Orleans explores the link between obesity and cancer – L’Observateur

New Orleans, LA – A review study led by Maria D. Sanchez-Pino, PhD, an assistant professor in the interdisciplinary oncology and genetics departments at LSU Health’s School of Medicine in New Orleans and at the Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, expands knowledge of the relationship between obesity-associated inflammation and cancer. The researchers suggest that inflammatory cells with immunosuppressive properties may act as a critical biological link between obesity and cancer risk, progression and metastasis. The paper will be published in the June 2021 issue of Obesity, which is available here.

Despite evidence that obesity increases the risk of cancer progression, efforts are needed to establish the causal link between immunosuppressive cells and the response to immunotherapy in obese patients.

The function of myeloid cells is determined by the metabolic microenvironment. Along with macrophages, myeloid cells with immunosuppressive properties called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are produced in obesity. One of the main factors associated with the metabolic inflammation of obesity is the expansion of MDSCs. In cancer patients, MDSCs are associated with poor survival and resistance to immunotherapy.

Although there is tremendous crosstalk between inflammation and metabolic / endocrine disorders that promote tumor growth in obesity, the biological and molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. The researchers reviewed the literature and stated that altered metabolic factors such as lipids, insulin and leptin in obesity contribute to the activation of the immunosuppressive and carcinogenic abilities of myeloid cells.

“By deciphering the molecular mechanisms by which obesity-related metabolic factors activate or enhance the function of myeloid-derived suppressor cells and immunosuppressive macrophages, we can identify biomarkers for prognosis and therapeutic responses,” notes Dr. Sanchez-Pino. “It will also lead to the discovery of potential targets for pharmacological therapies that may disrupt the pathophysiological inflammatory link between obesity and cancer.”

Co-authors include Dr. Augusto Ochoa, Director of the Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center at LSU Health in New Orleans, Dr. Justin Brown of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and a member of the Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center at LSU Health in New Orleans and Dr. Linda Anne Gilmore of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health – National Center for the Advancement of Translational Sciences, National Institute of General Practice, National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Cancer Institute – Research Center on Obesity at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, LSU Health New Orleans and Susan G. Komen Foundation.

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LSU Health Science Center New Orleans trains Louisiana’s health care professionals. LSU Health New Orleans, the state’s flagship university for health sciences, includes a School of Medicine with branches in Baton Rouge and Lafayette, the state’s only School of Dentistry, Louisiana’s only public school of Public Health, and schools for allied health professions , Nursing and Nursing Masters Degree. The faculty at LSU Health New Orleans cares for patients in public and private hospitals and clinics across the region. As a pioneer in life science research in a number of fields around the world, research firm LSU Health New Orleans is creating jobs and tremendous economic impact. The faculty at LSU Health New Orleans has made life-saving discoveries and continues to work to prevent, advance, or cure disease. For more information, please visit http://www.lsuhsc.edu, http://www.twitter.com/LSUHealthNO or http://www.facebook.com/LSUHSC.

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