Obesity and cancer: inflammation bridges the two

- Obesity is associated with chronic inflammation and chronic diseases.
- Obesity is associated with increased risk and progression of several cancers.
- The mechanism by which obesity promotes cancer is complex and tissue-specific.
- An underlying theme in obesity-associated cancer is inflammation.

Obesity is a growing public health problem and affects 35% US adults. Obesity increases the risk of many cancer types and is associated with poor outcomes. Clinical management of cancer patients has been essentially the same between normal weight and obese individuals. Understanding causal mechanisms by which obesity drives cancer initiation and progression is essential for the development of novel precision therapy for obese cancer patients. One caveat is that various mechanisms have been proposed for different cancer types for their progression under obesity. Since obesity is known to have global impact on inflammation, here we will summarize recent literature and discuss the potential of inflammation being the common causal mechanism to promote cancer promotion across cancer types.