Obesity biomarkers, metabolism and risk of cancer: an epidemiological perspective

Item Type:	Article
Title:	Obesity biomarkers, metabolism and risk of cancer: an epidemiological perspective
Creators Name:	Nimptsch, K. and Pischon, T.
Abstract:	Obesity is associated with metabolic alterations that may pose a biological link between body fatness and risk of cancer. Elucidating the role of obesity-related biomarkers in cancer development is essential for developing targeted strategies aiming at obesity-associated cancer prevention. Molecular epidemiological studies of the past decades have provided evidence that major hormonal pathways linking obesity and cancer risk include the insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) axis, sex-steroid hormones, adipokines and chronic low-grade inflammation. These pathways are interrelated with each other, and their importance varies by obesity-related cancer type. The insulin/IGF-1 axis has been implicated to play an important mediating role in the association between obesity and risk of pancreatic, colorectal and prostate cancer. Endogenous sex-steroid hormone concentrations, in particular obesity-associated pre-diagnostic elevations of estrogens and androgens, play an important role in postmenopausal breast cancer and endometrial cancer development. The adipokines adiponectin and leptin and adipocyte-mediated chronic low-grade inflammation represented by the acute-phase C-reactive protein may explain a substantial part of the association between obesity and risk of colorectal cancer. There is less evidence on whether these hormonal pathways play a mediating role in other obesity-associated types of cancer. In this chapter, the molecular epidemiologic evidence from prospective studies relating circulating obesity-related biomarkers to cancer risk is summarized, taking into account available evidence from Mendelian Randomization investigations aiming at improving causal inference.
Keywords:	Obesity, Cancer, Biomarkers, Metabolism, Insulin, IG-1, Adipokines, Inflammation, Sex-Steroid Hormones
Source:	Recent Results in Cancer Research
Series Name:	Recent Results in Cancer Research
Title of Book:	Obesity and Cancer
ISSN:	0080-0015
ISBN:	978-3-319-42540-5
Publisher:	Springer
Volume:	208
Number:	208
Page Range:	199-217
Number of Pages:	256
Date:	2 December 2016
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42542-9_11
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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