title: The obesity-cancer link: lessons learned from a fatless mouse.
abstract: Current dogma suggests that the positive correlation between obesity and cancer is driven by white adipose tissue that accompanies obesity, possibly through excess secretion of adipokines. Recent studies in fatless A-Zip/F1 mice, which have undetectable adipokine levels but display accelerated tumor formation, suggest that adipokines are not required for the enhanced tumor development. The A-Zip/F-1 mice are also diabetic and display elevated circulating levels of other factors frequently associated with obesity (insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1, and proinflammatory cytokines) and activation of several signaling pathways associated with carcinogenesis. In view of this information, the risk factors underlying the obesity-cancer link need to be revisited. We postulate that the pathways associated with insulin resistance and inflammation, rather than adipocyte-derived factors, may represent key prevention and therapeutic targets for disrupting the obesity-cancer link.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nutritional Sciences, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Hursting
authors.forename: Nomeli P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Nunez
authors.forename: Lyuba
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Varticovski
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vinson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I