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Dear Colleagues,

Obesity is a worsening public health problem worldwide. Excess body fat increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease, but the mechanisms for this increase are not fully known. Recent interest has focused on the role of fat-produced adipokines, including leptin and adiponectin, but specific effects of many others remain largely unexplored. Leptin is involved in many cellular processes, including apoptosis, angiogenesis, and inflammation, while adiponectin in some aspects counters these effects. Molecularly, these adipokines influence many important signaling pathways, including p53, Notch, Wnt, and others. The basic and clinical importance of these actions in disease require further investigation.

This Special Issue will mainly focus on the molecular activity of adipokines in cancer. Cell signaling in both proliferative and suppressive directions will be covered. New areas of molecular activity by lesser-known adipokines will be addressed. Further exploration of how fat is involved in cancer and other diseases should be stimulated, with new evidence-based disease prevention research to follow.

Dr. Daniel W. Nixon
Guest Editor

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Keywords

obesity
body fat
cancer
adipokines
leptin
adiponectin
angiogenesis
molecular activity
signaling pathways

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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26 pages, 7783 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transcriptome Analysis of Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue from Severely Obese Patients Highlights Deregulation Profiles in Coding and Non-Coding Oncogenes

by Federica Rey, Letizia Messa, Cecilia Pandini, Rossella Launi, Bianca Barzaghini, Giancarlo Micheletto, Manuela Teresa Raimondi, Simona Bertoli, Cristina Cereda, Gian Vincenzo Zuccotti, Raffaella Cancello and Stephana Carelli

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(4), 1989; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22041989 - 17 Feb 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2871

Abstract

Obesity is a major risk factor for a large number of secondary diseases, including cancer. Specific insights into the role of gender differences and secondary comorbidities, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cancer risk, are yet to be fully identified. The aim of this study is thus to find a correlation between the transcriptional deregulation present in the subcutaneous adipose tissue of obese patients and the oncogenic signature present in multiple cancers, in the presence of T2D, and considering gender differences. The subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) of five healthy, normal-weight women, five obese women, five obese women with T2D and five obese men were subjected to RNA-sequencing, leading to the identification of deregulated coding and non-coding RNAs, classified for their oncogenic score. A panel of DE RNAs was validated via Real-Time PCR and oncogene expression levels correlated the oncogenes with anthropometrical parameters, highlighting significant trends. For each analyzed condition, we identified the deregulated pathways associated with cancer, the prediction of possible prognosis for different cancer types and the lncRNAs involved in oncogenic networks and tissues. Our results provided a comprehensive characterization of oncogenesis correlation in SAT, providing specific insights into the possible molecular targets implicated in this process. Indeed, the identification of deregulated oncogenes also in SAT highlights hypothetical targets implicated in the increased oncogenic risk in highly obese subjects. These results could shed light on new molecular targets to be specifically modulated in obesity and highlight which cancers should receive the most attention in terms of better prevention in obesity-affected patients. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Pathways Connecting Body Fat and Cancer)

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Graphical abstract

Review

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13 pages, 427 KiB

Open AccessReview

Mechanistic Insights into the Link between Obesity and Prostate Cancer

by Bamidele A. Adesunloye

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(8), 3935; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22083935 - 11 Apr 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2191

Abstract

Obesity is a pandemic of increasing worldwide prevalence. There is evidence of an association between obesity and the risk of prostate cancer from observational studies, and different biologic mechanisms have been proposed. The chronic low-level inflammation within the adipose tissue in obesity results in oxidative stress, activation of inflammatory cytokines, deregulation of adipokines signaling, and increased circulating levels of insulin and insulin-like growth factors (IGF). These mechanisms may be involved in epithelial to mesenchymal transformation into a malignant phenotype that promotes invasiveness, aggressiveness, and metastatic potential of prostate cancer. A thorough understanding of these mechanisms may be valuable in the development of effective prostate cancer prevention strategies and treatments. This review provides an overview of these mechanisms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Pathways Connecting Body Fat and Cancer)

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