In a recently published article, Against Breast Cancer Senior Research Fellow Professor Simon Lord and co-authors summarise the latest research linking obesity to increased breast cancer risk and poorer responses to therapy in post-menopausal individuals.
With the incidence of breast cancer increasing globally, research has found that obesity is a significant risk factor for the development, recurrence, and mortality of breast cancer. Furthermore, breast cancer treatments may be less effective in obese individuals, leading to poorer outcomes.
“Patients with a high body mass index have both an increased risk of developing breast cancer and worse chances of survival than those with a healthy body weight.”
Professor Simon Lord, University of Oxford
Professor Lord and colleagues also discuss the link between obesity, high insulin levels, and cancer. Obesity is associated with higher insulin levels, and in turn, raised insulin is associated with increased risk of developing cancer. High insulin levels may also lead to resistance to hormonal therapy for breast cancer.
The review article, published in the British Journal of Cancer (Implications of obesity and insulin resistance for the treatment of oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer – PubMed), discusses the latest understanding of the impact of obesity and diabetes on cancer risk, treatment outcomes, and toxicity in estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer and how treatment options can be best tailored to individual patients.
Professor Lord, who has been Director of the Early Phase Clinical Trials Unit, University of Oxford since 2021, is leading several clinical trials, including those testing novel treatments for breast cancer.
He is also investigating how metformin, an established low-cost diabetes treatment, may be beneficial for some breast cancer patients – these studies are in collaboration with the Against Breast Cancer research team at the University of Southampton.