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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 26, 2018; 6(12): 483-492
Published online Oct 26, 2018. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v6.i12.483
Cancer and comorbidity: The role of leptin in breast cancer and associated pathologies
Amitabha Ray
Amitabha Ray, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Seton Hill University, Greensburg, PA 15601, United State
Author contributions: Ray A solely contributed to the article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Amitabha Ray, MBBS, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Seton Hill University, 20 Seton Hill Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601, United States. aray@lecom.edu
Telephone: +1-724-5522882 Fax: +1-724-5522865
Received: June 6, 2018
Peer-review started: June 6, 2018
First decision: August 1, 2018
Revised: August 23, 2018
Accepted: August 30, 2018
Article in press: August 30, 2018
Published online: October 26, 2018
Processing time: 142 Days and 23 Hours
Abstract

Obesity is an important risk factor for postmenopausal breast cancer and also a poor prognostic factor among cancer patients. Moreover, obesity is associated with a number of health disorders such as insulin resistance/type-2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and other cardiovascular diseases. Frequently, these health disorders exhibit as components/complications of the metabolic syndrome. Nevertheless, obesity-related diseases may coexist with postmenopausal breast cancer; and these comorbid conditions could be substantial. Therefore, it may be assumed that different diseases including breast cancer could originate from a common pathological background in excessive adipose tissue. Adipocyte-released hormone-like cytokine (or adipokine) leptin behaves differently in a normal healthy state and obesity. A growing body of evidence suggests an important role of leptin in our major obesity-related health issues such as insulin resistance, hypertension, and neoplasia. In this context, this review describes the relationships of the abovementioned pathologies with leptin.

Keywords: Hypertension; Obesity; Postmenopausal breast cancer; Comorbidity; Diabetes

Core tip: Obesity and associated pathologies such as insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome are interrelated health disorders wherein a chronic low-grade inflammation persists. Perhaps this inflammatory condition is associated with the etiology and disease course of postmenopausal breast cancer, like other obesity-related diseases such as type-2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Often these diseases may coexist, and comorbidity worsens the prognosis of cancer patients. Leptin is an important adipokine (mainly released by fat cells), which may play a crucial role in these obesity-related diseases.