Science News | Study Discovers Link Between Obesity with Oral Cancer Immune Escape

Michigan [US], May 21 (ANI): A study discovered a method through which obesity affects the ability of some oral cancers to evade the immune system.

A team from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center and School of Dentistry, led by Yu Leo Lei, D.D.S., Ph.D. Obesity helps to produce a sort of tumour microenvironment that promotes tumour growth, according to this study published in Cell Reports. The link between saturated fatty acids, the STING-type-I interferon pathway, and NLRC3 explains how this happens.

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"We tend to think about the increased risks for gastrointestinal tumors, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and ovarian cancer when it comes to obesity," said Lei, a pathologist-immunologist and lead author of this study. "Multiple recent prospective cohorts involving millions of individuals from several continents revealed a previously underappreciated link between obesity and oral cancer risks."

"Myeloid cells in obese mice were insensitive to STING agonists and were more suppressive of T cell activation compared to the myeloid cells from leans hosts," explained Lei. This feature drove the loss of immune subsets that were crucial for anti-tumor immunity in the tumor microenvironment.

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The team found that saturated fatty acids can block the STING pathway, which is induced by cytosolic DNA and promotes antigen-presenting cell maturation, by inducing a protein called NLRC3.

Lei says this is the first study establishing a mechanistic link between obesity with oral cancer immune escape. "We're excited about the translational implications," he continued.

Obesity is a common comorbidity in cancer patients. Two recent studies found that oral cancer patients who were on statins--medicines that lower cholesterol--showed improved overall and cancer-specific survival. "This study establishes a mechanistic link for those observations and highlights the potential of targeting fatty acids metabolism in remodeling the host anti-tumor immune response," said Lei. (ANI)

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