A study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation revealed that obesity increases the risk of developing leukemia and contributes to its development in the body.
Researchers analyzed data from more than 440,000 people from the UK Biobank database and also conducted experiments on laboratory mice. It turned out that obesity causes chronic inflammation in the body, increasing levels of the inflammatory molecule IL-17A and simultaneously reducing the activity of the GLP-1 signaling pathway, which is responsible for metabolism. In this environment, mutated hematopoietic stem cells, which may cause leukemia, begin to multiply at a faster rate.
During the study, scientists also tested the possibility of targeting the two mechanisms mentioned together in experiments they conducted on laboratory mice. The use of a combination of IL-17A inhibitors and GLP-1 enhancers (a class that includes common drugs for treating diabetes and weight loss) led to a reduction in tumor size and an improvement in immune system functions.
The researchers emphasize that both types of drugs are already used in medical practice and have a known safety record, and they believe that combining them may be a promising treatment for patients with obesity-related leukemia.
A recent scientific study published in the Journal of the Tomb Raiser (JTO) also showed that the accumulation of fat in the abdominal area may increase the risk of lung cancer, through a mechanism that weakens the body's natural immune system. The researchers found that the lungs of obese people contain larger numbers of regulatory T cells, which are immune cells that suppress the activity of the anti-tumor immune system.
