Obesity has become one of the leading preventable causes of cancer. Yet, the mechanisms of how obesity and associated systemic inflammation can promote cancer progression remain poorly understood. In a new study, researchers found that the cytokines interleukin 5 (IL-5) and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) are induced in obesity and, in obese mice, this leads to lung neutrophilia and supports breast cancer metastasis to the lung.
Quail, Olson et al. used mouse models of obesity, induced by a high-fat diet (diet-induced obesity, DIO mice) or leptin deficiency (ob/ ob mice), to study how inflammation in obesity is linked to breast cancer metastasis.