The fat is always a bad guy…even in bone metastases

2020-02-14T11:14:26+00:00February 14th 2020|

Obesity defined as an excess accumulation of adipose tissue, is becoming a high economic burden by reaching epidemic proportions worldwide. In 2016, 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016, and 13% were obese (WHO). For cancer, adipocyte-supplied factors are related to development and progression, in particular for tumors that grow in or metastasize to adipocyte enriched environments like bone. Within the bone microenvironment, adipocyte number increased with obesity and is correlated with increased tumor growth. So future therapeutic options that target adipocytes and obesity might be a valuable perspective in the field of co-therapy for bone tumor development. In addition, the research groups of Prof. Aline Bozec and Prof. Tobias Bäuerle are working on the development of non-invasive imaging in vivo with different modalities to assess complementary information on the morphologic, metabolic and functional level in osteolytic bone metastasis. Using these in vivo imaging techniques, we investigate processes like bone marrow vascularization and metabolism, as well as tumor cell proliferation and bone resorption that are altered in adipocyte enriched bone.

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