Obesity-Induced Inflammatory Cytokines on Breast and Thyroid Cancer Therapeutics: A systemic review: Inflammatory cytokines in breast and thyroid

Abstract

Background: As reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. Several factors are known to be related to causing cancer, obesity is one of them. Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO) is considering obesity as a “global epidemic”.  In the United States, more than 36% of adults are obese. Among them, women are more susceptible to severe obesity (11.5%) compared to men (6.9%). Obesity and overweight have long been associated with several chronic diseases including cancer. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), there is substantial evidence that obesity is associated with cancers in 13 anatomical sites such as the endometrium, kidney, gastric, cardia, colon, rectum, biliary tract, pancreas, breast, esophagus, ovary, thyroid, liver, and meninges. In both men and women, a strong correlation between hormones and obesity-induced inflammatory cytokines is evident in cancer development. Recent studies show that several mechanisms can play a role in obesity-related endocrine cancers, such as alteration of inflammatory, immunological, and metabolic functions, defects in DNA repair, and alteration in gene function. However, a comprehensive picture to show the relationship between obesity-induced inflammatory markers in breast and thyroid cancer are lacking. This review aims to illustrate the link between obesity-induced inflammatory cytokines as well as the occurrence of breast and thyroid cancer and the role of metformin and chemotherapy in the treatment of these cancers.

Conclusion: In this review article, we provide studies on the expression of novel inflammatory markers that may provide essential clues for the detection, prognosis, prevention, and therapeutic implications of obesity-linked cancers.