According to a study by Massachusetts General Hospital (The first and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School) published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, the team found an association between obesity and a certain pathway that promotes tumor progression. The study focused on the effects of obesity on pancreatic and breast cancer, since more than half of those diagnosed with such tumors are overweight or obese.

The researchers first found that obesity was associated with an increased tumor inflammation.

“With the majority of pancreatic and breast cancer patients being overweight or obese at diagnosis, uncovering potential therapeutic targets within the mechanisms that associate obesity with poor cancer prognoses is the first step towards developing remedies that could disrupt this association and significantly improve patient outcome,” said a co-author of the study.

For more information, read the full study.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/mgh-sfm021216.php