The Obesity-Breast Cancer Conundrum: An Analysis of the Issues
Cancer Prevention Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
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Academic Editor: Dario Marchetti
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2016, 17(6), 989; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms17060989
Received: 22 May 2016 / Revised: 9 June 2016 / Accepted: 15 June 2016 / Published: 22 June 2016
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Nutritional Epidemiology)
Breast cancer develops over a timeframe of 2–3 decades prior to clinical detection. Given this prolonged latency, it is somewhat unexpected from a biological perspective that obesity has no effect or reduces the risk for breast cancer in premenopausal women yet increases the risk for breast cancer in postmenopausal women. This conundrum is particularly striking in light of the generally negative effects of obesity on breast cancer outcomes, including larger tumor size at diagnosis and poorer prognosis in both pre- and postmenopausal women. This review and analysis identifies factors that may contribute to this apparent conundrum, issues that merit further investigation, and characteristics of preclinical models for breast cancer and obesity that should be considered if animal models are used to deconstruct the conundrum.
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Keywords:
breast cancer; obesity; mechanisms; preclinical models
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MDPI and ACS Style
Matthews, S.B.; Thompson, H.J. The Obesity-Breast Cancer Conundrum: An Analysis of the Issues. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2016, 17, 989. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms17060989
AMA Style
Matthews SB, Thompson HJ. The Obesity-Breast Cancer Conundrum: An Analysis of the Issues. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2016; 17(6):989. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms17060989
Chicago/Turabian StyleMatthews, Shawna B.; Thompson, Henry J. 2016. "The Obesity-Breast Cancer Conundrum: An Analysis of the Issues" Int. J. Mol. Sci. 17, no. 6: 989. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms17060989
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