Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Obesity-Associated Cancer Development and Treatments

Dear Colleagues,

Obesity is a chronic disease characterized by the abnormal or excessive accumulation of body fat. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1 billion people in the world are obese, including 650 million adults, 340 million adolescents, and 39 million children, which will cause about 167 million people to become ill by 2025. The prevalence of obesity is impacted by many genetic and environmental factors, such as sex, race, physical activity, diet, and socioeconomic status. Obesity is commonly associated with many other metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes (T2D), metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), and chronic kidney diseases (CKDs). Obesity, together with these metabolic disorders, has been identified to promote most cancer progression, including breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and lung and kidney cancers. Therefore, it is essential to understand the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of obesity-associated cancers and develop new targets for cancer treatment. This Topic, entitled “Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Obesity-Associated Cancer Development and Treatments”, aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the most recent advances in this field and explore the underlying mechanisms of obesity-associated cancer development and new treatment targets.

Dr. Ming Yang
Dr. Chunye Zhang
Topic Editors