Gene transcription signature of obesity in breast cancer

Obesity is thought to contribute to worse disease outcome in breast cancer as a result of increased levels of adipocyte-secreted endocrine factors, insulin, and insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) that accelerate tumor cell proliferation and impair treatment response. We examined the effects of patient obesity on primary breast tumor gene expression, by profiling transcription of a set of tumors for which the patients body mass index (BMI) was ascertained. Sample profiles were stratified according to patients obesity phenotype defined as normal (BMI <25), overweight (BMI 25-29.9), or obese (BMI>30). Widespread alterations in gene expression were evident in breast tumors from obese patients as compared to tumors from other patients, allowing us to define an obesity-associated cancer transcriptional signature of 662 genes.

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Creighton CJ, Sada YH, Zhang Y, Tsimelzon A, Wong H, Dave B, Landis MD, Bear HD, Rodriguez A, Chang JC