Obesity, Adipokines, and Gynecologic Cancer

Abstract

The evidence that obesity and excess fat in adipose tissue lead to poor prognosis for gynecological cancers is overwhelming. Indeed, obese women are at two to fourfold greater risk of developing endometriod cancer than normal weight women. Further, obese women with a BMI greater than 40 have a sixfold increased relative risk of death from uterine cancer compared to women with BMI of 25 or less. Adipose tissue is now well recognized as an endocrine organ capable of secreting factors called adipokines that act locally and on other organ systems, tissues, and tumors. This chapter will review the existing evidence that adipose-derived factors promote both the initiation and progression of gynecological cancers. Where available, we will discuss the evidence for interaction with specific gynecological organs sites and define future directions for approaches to disrupt the obesity-cancer link.