Abstract

Obesity is associated with an increased risk and worsened prognosis for many types of cancer, but the mechanisms underlying the obesity-cancer progression link are poorly understood. Several energy balance-related host factors are known to influence tumor progression and/or treatment responsiveness after cancer develops, and these have been implicated as key contributors to the complex effects of obesity on cancer outcome. These host factors include leptin, adiponectin, steroid hormones, reactive oxygen species associated with inflammation, insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1, and sirtuins. Each of these host factors is considered in this article in the context of energy balance and cancer progression. In addition, future research directions in this field are discussed, including the importance of study designs addressing energy balance across the life course, the development and application of highly relevant animal models, potential roles of cancer stem cells in the response to energy balance modulation, and emerging pharmacologic approaches that target energy balance-related pathways.