Inflammation Driven Activation of Wnt Pathway: A Potential Mechanism Responsible for Obesity-associated Colorectal Cancer.
Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death in both men and women in the United States, and ~5% of the population will develop CRC in their life. Most colorectal cancers are due to lifestyle factors and increasing age, with only a small number (<5%) of cases due to a family history of genetic disorders.
To define effective strategies to block the linkage between obesity and cancer, it is essential to understand how obesity mechanistically leads to the development of cancer. For instance, obese individuals normally develop insulin resistance and consequently insulin levels raise as pancreatic β-cells secrete more insulin to compensate for the resulting hyperglycaemia. Chronically increased insulin levels have been associated with CRC.
The prevalence of overweight and obesity has reached an epidemic level in the United States5,6 and also in many other industrialized and urban areas in developing countries throughout the world. Obesity is among the fastest growing disease worldwide. For example, the prevalence of obesity among adults in Great Britain almost tripled between 1980 and 2002. Among preschool children (2-6 years old) in urban areas of China, the prevalence of obesity increased from 1.5% in 1989 to 12.6% in 1997 and prevalence of overweight increased from 14.6 to 28.9% at the same period. It is clear that this increased secretion of cytokines causes chronic inflammation that affects the function of other tissues in the body and thereby associates with the etiology of a variety of diseases
Obes Res Open J. 2015; 1(1): 10-15.doi: 10.17140/OROJ-1-103
