{"id":925729,"date":"2026-10-12T19:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T19:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/925729\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T19:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T19:02:08","slug":"early-research-links-abdominal-obesity-to-increased-lung-cancer-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/925729\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Research Links Abdominal Obesity to Increased Lung Cancer Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n \t\t By The ASCO Post Staff<\/a>

Posted: 10\/12\/2026 11:45:00 AM
\n\t\t
Last Updated: 10\/12\/2026 10:47:45 AM<\/p>\n

Findings from a recent study published in the\u00a0Journal of Thoracic Oncology<\/a> challenge the idea that an obesity paradox contributes to reduced lung cancer risk\u2014instead, the data suggested that obesity may be associated with enhanced lung carcinogenesis.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, our data clearly associate central adiposity with heightened lung cancer risk,\u201d stated lead study author Joseph Barbi, PhD,\u00a0Assistant Member in the Department of Immunology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Background and Study Methods\u00a0<\/p>\n

Researchers have suggested that there is a correlation between high body mass index and decreased lung cancer risk, in what has been called an “obesity paradox.”\u00a0A research team sought to learn more about the relationship between the two through clinical and preclinical modeling.<\/p>\n

They conducted a case-control study of 1,170 individuals at high risk for early stage lung cancer, who were stratified by total abdominal fat area, as determined by computed tomography scans. The team also looked at airway gene expression as a function of total abdominal fat area in 278 additional patients, as well as the impact of obesity on chemical- and mutation-driven lung carcinogenesis in models. Additionally, they profiled the effects of the immune environment of murine lungs as well as patients’ bronchoalveolar lavage using flow cytometry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Key Findings\u00a0<\/p>\n

Researchers found a relationship between lung cancer and higher total abdominal fat area in both univariate and multivariable models.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suppressed immune activity signals were found in the gene expression of patients with high total abdominal fat area airways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In preclinical findings, the lungs of obese mice showed more abundant potentially suppressive myeloid cells,\u00a0activated\u00a0regulatory T cells, and effector T-cell deficits at both baseline and during carcinogenesis, compared with more lean control mice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The study authors suggested that obesity-enhanced regulatory T cells can\u00a0cause rapid tumor growth. Flow cytometry analysis of patient airway leukocytes also suggested that\u00a0lung immune surveillance may be compromised in patients with high total abdominal fat area.<\/p>\n

Sai Yendamuri, MD, MBA, FACS,\u00a0Senior Vice President, Strategy, Business Development and Outreach\u00a0and\u00a0Chief Strategy Officerof Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, is the corresponding author of the\u00a0Journal of Thoracic Oncology\u00a0study.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DISCLOSURES: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit\u00a0jto.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By The ASCO Post StaffPosted: 10\/12\/2026 11:45:00 AM Last Updated: 10\/12\/2026 10:47:45 AM Findings from a recent study…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,137],"class_list":["post-925729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}