Abstract
Obesity and Cancer: Creating Niches for Metastasis
Obesity is a risk factor for multiple types of cancer, including breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Regardless of menopause, women obesity that are diagnosed with breast cancer have an increased risk for metastasis, and the mechanisms for metastatic growth are not well understood. Systemically, obesity alters the immune system to elevate immunosuppressive myeloid lineage cells and decrease the responses of the adaptive immune cells. Obesity also alters the function of fibroblasts at distant sites to promote a reactive stroma, even in the absence of tumor growth. While these systemic changes enhance the risk for metastatic colonization, they also create opportunities for therapeutic interventions to reduce mortality from breast cancer and other obesity-associated cancers.
Speaker
Lisa Arendt
Associate Professor, School of Veterinary Medicine
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Lisa M. Arendt, DVM, PhD completed a BS in Genetics, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, and PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Charlotte Kuperwasser, PhD at Tufts University. She joined the faculty of the School of Veterinary Medicine in 2015 and became an Associate Professor in 2021. The work of her laboratory examines how obesity alters breast cancer risk, promotes the growth of treatment resistant breast cancer, and enhances metastasis. Through her membership in the UW Carbone Cancer Center, she has formed collaborations with other breast cancer researchers who are leaders in the field to take a multidisciplinary approach addressing research questions in breast cancer. She serves on the editorial board of Endocrinology and has participated in grant review panels for Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, NIH, Metavivor, and Bankhead Coley Research Program.