Researchers at the Emory University School of Medicine have found that the signalling molecule (hormone) adiponectin can be a promising therapy for Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It is a rare but serious type of liver cancer in the United States.
Compared to the risks associated with cancer of the prostate, colon, kidney and stomach, obese people are more at risk of developing this dreadful ailment in the liver. The results of the findings will be published in the November 2010 issue of the journal Hepatology. This article tries to gain further understanding on the latest obesity-related research (October 2010).
How Adiponectin Hormone Inhibits Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)?
- This hormone helps in the breakdown of fatty acids and regulation of glucose levels in the body.
- Another hormone Leptin controls the appetite and is found to be associated with causing, spreading and growth of HCC cancer cells.
- Unfortunately, obese people have lower levels of the former hormone and higher levels of the latter making them prone to developing this type of liver cancer.
- The researchers wanted to know the role of the former hormone in the liver cancer induced by the latter hormone and carried out their tests on experimental mice suffering from HCC.
- The study found that while Leptin hormone directly associated with the growth of HCC tumor, the other hormone of interest treated this cancer by inhibiting its growth, invasion and spreading.
- The size of the HCC tumor was found to shrink when the experiment was extended on HCC tumor samples of humans.
Significance of the Research on Adiponectin Hormone Inhibition of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC):
Obese people are at risk of developing 33 types of cancer. According to the estimates of the World Health Organization, more than 700 million adults will be obese by 2015 worldwide. Nearly 72.5 miliion adults in the United States have a BMI above 30 as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The researchers are convinced that the conclusions of their study have opened up a new treatment method for Leptin-induced liver cancer in obese people.
