The role of obesity in breast cancer
Cancer spread, metastasis, accounts for >90% of cancer-related death. A major risk factor for the development of metastatic cancer is obesity. As the global obesity epidemic intensifies, under-standing the connection between obesity and cancer is a critical health issue. In particular, research that specifically aims at determining how cancer cells exploit the obese environment in the cancer patient is essential. Knowledge of how cancer cells adapt to altered metabolic landscapes is necessary to develop more effective therapeutics for both obese and non-obese cancer patients.
We endeavor to address this fundamental health problem by employing an systematic research strategy that builds on global gene expression profiles from tumors of breast cancer patients with varying degrees of obesity. These studies will be followed by mouse experiments in the attempts to identify key genes and pathways that are responsible for connection obesity to cancer survival. As cancer metastasis is a multistep program that involves escape from the primary tumor site, entry into the circulation, survival in the circulation and finally entry and colonization of a distant site, no in vitro system can efficiently recapitulate this process. Where therefore aim to gain as much clinically relevant information about the obesity-cancer connection before testing our hypothesis in mice.
We endeavor to address this fundamental health problem by employing an systematic research strategy that builds on global gene expression profiles from tumors of breast cancer patients with varying degrees of obesity. These studies will be followed by mouse experiments in the attempts to identify key genes and pathways that are responsible for connection obesity to cancer survival. As cancer metastasis is a multistep program that involves escape from the primary tumor site, entry into the circulation, survival in the circulation and finally entry and colonization of a distant site, no in vitro system can efficiently recapitulate this process. Where therefore aim to gain as much clinically relevant information about the obesity-cancer connection before testing our hypothesis in mice.