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Kim: Obesity and Gastrointestinal Cancer-related Factor
Special Review
Obesity and Digestive Disorders
The Korean Journal of Gastroenterology

The Korean Journal of Gastroenterology 2012; 59(1): 8-15.

Published online: 25 January 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4166/kjg.2012.59.1.8

Obesity and Gastrointestinal Cancer-related Factor

Dong-Jun Kim

Department of Internal Medicine, Ilsan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Correspondence to: Dong-Jun Kim, Department of Internal Medicine, Ilsan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, 2240 Daehwa-dong, Ilsanseo-gu, Goyang 411-706, Korea. Tel: +82-31-910-7205, Fax: +82-31-913-5095, djkim@paik.ac.kr

Copyright © 2012 The Korean Society of Gastroenterology

(open-access):

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Despite a higher incidence and less favorable outcome of malignant tumors in obese patients, much less recognized is the link between obesity and cancer. The mechanism of the association of obesity with carcinogenesis remains incompletely understood. Postulated mechanisms include insulin resistance, insulin-like growth factor signaling, chronic inflammation, immunomodulation, hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress, and changes of intestinal microbiome. Insulin resistance leads to direct mitogenic and antiapoptotic signaling by insulin and the insulin-like growth factor axis. Obesity can be considered to be a state of chronic low-grade inflammation. In obesity, numerous proinflammatory cytokines are released from adipose tissue which may involve in carcinogenesis. Hyperglycemia in susceptible cells results in the overproduction of superoxide and this process is the key to initiating all damaging pathways related to diabetes. This hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress could be one possible link among obesity, diabetes, and cancer development. The role of obesity-related changes in the intestinal microbiome in gastrointestinal carcinogenesis deserves further attention.

Keywords: Obesity, Gastrointestinal neoplasms, Insulin resistance, Inflammation

Figures and Tables

Table 1
Mechanisms Linking Obesity and Gastrointestinal Cancer Development
kjg-59-8-i001

GERD, gastroesophageal reflux; IGF, insulin-like growth factor; FFA, free fatty acid; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; IL, interleukin; MIF, machrophage migration inhibitory factor.

Notes

Financial support: None.

Conflict of interest: None.

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