Fat Cells May Reduce the Effectiveness of Chemotherapy

Molecular Cancer Researchpublished a new study suggesting that fat cells may reduce chemotherapy’s therapeutic effects and lead to poorer treatment outcomes.

Previous research had shown that obesity adversely affects the course of various cancers, including breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancer. However, this adverse effect had not previously been linked to the possibility that excess fat reduces chemotherapy effectiveness. This study shows that excessive fat may cause chemotherapy to break down more rapidly in tumor tissue.

Researchers examined how obesity changes the pharmacokinetics of daunorubicin, an anthracycline chemotherapy medicine [pharmacokinetics describes how a medicine is processed by the body: absorption, distribution, transformation and elimination].

In the study, leukemia (blood cancer) cells were grown in an environment containing fat cells and then treated with daunorubicin. Fat tissue was also collected from people with cancer to investigate whether it metabolized (changed/transformed) daunorubicin.

The Main Study Findings Were

• The presence of fat cells (adipocytes) significantly reduced daunorubicin accumulation in leukemia cells.
• Fat cells absorbed chemotherapy and removed it from the leukemia microenvironment. Leukemia cells treated with daunorubicin survived and proliferated better in samples containing fat cells.
• Fat cells metabolize daunorubicin. Enzymes in fat cells alter the chemotherapy molecule’s structure, making it less toxic to leukemia cells.

What Does This Study Mean for Us?

• The ability of human fat cells to metabolize chemotherapy and make it inactive is a new and interesting finding.
• The importance of the tumor microenvironment has once again become clear. Especially in advanced disease, new treatments cannot be developed by focusing on cancer cells while ignoring the numerous surrounding cell types. In blood cancers, for example, the bloodstream has a stable and smaller microenvironment, whereas the bone marrow has a highly complex one.
• Enzymes in fat cells may guide clinicians and researchers in designing more potent chemotherapy medicines and offering more effective treatments.
• This study also provides a new idea about how excess weight and obesity adversely affect the cancer process.

Related Topic:

• Every extra kilogram takes time from life – An obesity study covering 195 countries over 25 years