Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Obesity and the risk of chronic myelogenous leukemia: is this another example of the neoplastic effects of increased body fat?

Leukemia volume 26, pages 183–184 (2012)Cite this article

The risk of cancers of varied tissues is increased in persons who are overweight or obese.1, 2, 3, 4 The increased relative risk (RR) of cancer in overweight and obese subjects has also included the hematological malignancies, although the major types of leukemia and lymphoma have not been stratified in several of these large epidemiological studies.1, 2, 5, 6, 7 Myeloma also has been associated with overweight and obesity as has its antecedent, essential monoclonal gammopathy.8, 9 The evidence for an increased risk of leukemia in the aggregate1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and of the four major types of leukemia is noteworthy.10 Given the broad range of tissues for which a risk of neoplasia is increased in overweight and obese persons, there appears to be a global effect of the metabolic, endocrinologic and inflammatory changes resulting from obesity on either the induction of neoplastic clones, or the selection and enhanced growth and survival of preexisting, dormant transformed clones.

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

References

  1. Calle EE, Rodrigues C, Walker-Thurmond K, Thun MJ . Overweight, obesity, and mortality from cancer in a prospectively studied cohort of U.S. adults. N Engl J Med 2003; 348: 1625–1638.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Renehan AG, Tyson M, Egger M, Heller RF, Zwahlen M . Body-mass index and incidence of cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies. Lancet 2008; 371: 569–578.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Wolin KY, Carson K, Colditz GA . Obesity and cancer. Oncologist 2010; 15: 556–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Larsson SC, Wolk A . Excess body fatness: an important cause of most cancers. Lancet 2008; 371: 536–537.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Pan SY, Johnson KC, Ugnat AM, Wen SW, Mao Y . Canadian Cancer Registries Epidemiology Research Group. Association of obesity and cancer risk in Canada. Am J Epidemiol 2004; 159: 259–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Reeves GK, Pirie K, Beral V, Green J, Spencer E, Bull D . Cancer incidence and mortality in relation to body mass index in the Million Women Study: cohort study. BMJ 2007; 335: 1134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Renehan AG, Soerjomataram I, Tyson M, Egger M, Zwahlen M, Coebergh JW et al. Incident cancer burden attributable to excess body mass index in 30 European countries. Int J Cancer 2010; 126: 692–702.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Wallin A, Larsson SC . Body mass index and risk of multiple myeloma: a meta-analysis of prospective studies. Eur J Cancer 2011; 47: 1606–1615.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Landgren O, Rajkumar SV, Pfeiffer RM, Kyle RA, Katzmann JA, Dispenzieri A et al. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance among black and white women. Blood 2010; 116: 1056–1059.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Larsson SC, Wolk A . Overweight and obesity and incidence of leukemia: a meta-analysis of cohort studies. Int J Cancer 2008; 122: 1418–1421.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lichtman MA . Is there an entity of chemically induced BCR-ABL-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia? Oncologist 2008; 13: 645–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. MacInnis RJ, English DR, Hopper JL, Giles GG . Body size and composition and the risk of lymphohematopoietic malignancies. J Natl Cancer Inst 2005; 97: 1154–1157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Engeland A, Tretli S, Hansen S, Bjørge T . Height and body mass index and risk of lymphohematopoietic malignancies in two million Norwegian men and women. Am J Epidemiol 2007; 165: 44–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Samanic C, Gridley G, Chow WH, Lubin J, Hoover RN, Fraumeni Jr JF . Obesity and cancer risk among white and black United States veterans. Cancer Causes Control 2004; 15: 35–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Fernberg P, Odenbro A, Bellocco R, Boffetta P, Pawitan Y, Zendehdel K et al. Tobacco use, body mass index, and the risk of leukemia and multiple myeloma: a nationwide cohort study in Sweden. Cancer Res 2007; 672: 5983–5986.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Kasim K, Levallois P, Abdous B, Auger P, Johnson KC . Lifestyle factors and the risk of adult leukemia in Canada. Cancer Causes Control 2005; 16: 489–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Söderberg KC, Kaprio J, Verkasalo PK, Pukkala E, Koskenvuo M, Lundqvist E et al. Overweight, obesity and risk of haematological malignancies: a cohort study of Swedish and Finnish twins. Eur J Cancer 2009; 45: 1232–1238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Strom SS, Yamamura Y, Kantarijian HM, Cortes-Franco JE . Obesity, weight gain, and risk of chronic myeloid leukemia. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009; 18: 1501–1506.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Hursting SD, Lashinger LM, Wheatley KW, Rogers CJ, Colbert LH, Nunez NP et al. Reducing the weight of cancer: mechanistic targets for breaking the obesity-carcinogenesis link. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab 2008; 22: 659–669.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Roberts DL, Dive C, Renehan AG . Biological mechanisms linking obesity and cancer risk: new perspectives. Annu Rev Med 2010; 61: 301–316.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Konopleva M, Mikhail A, Estrov Z, Zhao S, Harris D, Sanchez-Williams G et al. Expression and function of leptin receptor isoforms in myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes: proliferative and anti-apoptotic activities. Blood 1999; 93: 1668–1676.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Gainsford T, Willson TA, Metcalf D, Handman E, McFarlane C, Ng A et al. Leptin can induce proliferation, differentiation, and functional activation of hemopoietic cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1996; 93: 14564–14568.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Fantuzzi G, Faggioni R . Leptin in the regulation of immunity, inflammation, and hematopoiesis. J Leukoc Biol 2000; 68: 437–446.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Shimon I, Shpilberg O . The insulin-like growth factor system in regulation of normal and malignant hematopoiesis. Leuk Res 1995; 19: 233–240.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA

    M A Lichtman

Authors
  1. M A Lichtman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M A Lichtman.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author has served as a medical expert for the defense in toxic tort cases and, in that context, has relied on research studies of obesity as a risk factor for the development of a hematological malignancy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lichtman, M. Obesity and the risk of chronic myelogenous leukemia: is this another example of the neoplastic effects of increased body fat?. Leukemia 26, 183–184 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2011.190

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2011.190

Search

Advanced search

Quick links