Obesity competes with smoking tobacco as the leading preventable risk factor for cancer related mortality, estimated to cause up to 20% of all cancer deaths.
Most cancer deaths are caused by metastasis, and new research from the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre reveals听that obesity facilitates breast cancer metastasis through its effects on blood vessels and the immune system.
Specifically, Sheri McDowell from the Quail lab听shows that obesity changes the innate cytotoxic behaviour of neutrophils (a type of immune cell) such that they released DNA webs that damage blood vessels, enabling cancer cells to spread through the blood into distant tissues more easily. By targeting neutrophils, this research team shows that they are able to reduce breast cancer metastasis in obese hosts. Their听findings reveal potentially targetable mechanisms that drive obesity-associated cancer.
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Thank you to听the contributions of the Platform Managers, namely:
1. Yuhong Wei (SCIMAP 鈥� imaging mass cytometry)
2. Cleber Moraes (Histology 鈥� building tissue microarrays and imaging)
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The authors of the paper can be contacted via email:听
sheri.mcdowell [at] mail.mcgill.ca听(main author)
Daniela.quail [at] mcgill.ca听(co-senior author)
Logan.walsh [at] mcgill.ca听(co-senior author)
WEBSITE: and
Imaging mass cytometry of a lung metastasis sample from an obese patient.
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