Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29526577›Full record

ReviewEBioMedicine2018

Obesity and Cancer: Existing and New Hypotheses for a Causal Connection.

Trevor W Stone, Megan McPherson, L Gail Darlington

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in EBioMedicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 117 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
117citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
16.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

117 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 260 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Life Course Trajectories of Body Mass Index and Risk of Cancer in Adulthood: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026
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  11. Implications of adipocyte dysfunction in pediatric obesity: a narrative review.Pediatric endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism · 2026
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  18. Nutrients Lowering Obesity-Linked Chemokines Blamable for Metastasis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025
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57 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Trevor W StoneThe Kennedy Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7FY, UK; Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK. Electronic address: trevor.stone@kennedy.ox.ac.uk.
Megan McPhersonSchool of Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
L Gail DarlingtonAshtead Hospital, The Warren, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 2SB, UK.
Ashtead Hospital · GBUniversity of Glasgow · GBUniversity of Oxford · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Existing explanations of obesity-associated cancer emphasise direct mutagenic effects of dietary components or hormonal imbalance. Some of these hypotheses are reviewed briefly, but recent evidence suggests a major role for chronic inflammation in cancer risk, possibly involving dietary content. These ideas include the inflammation-induced activation of the kynurenine pathway and its role in feeding and metabolism by activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and by modulating synaptic transmission in the brain. Evidence for a role of the kynurenine pathway in carcinogenesis then provides a potentially major link between obesity and cancer. A second new hypothesis is based on evidence that serine proteases can deplete cells of the tumour suppressors Deleted in Colorectal Cancer (DCC) and neogenin. These enzymes include mammalian chymotryptic proteases released by pro-inflammatory neutrophils and macrophages. Blood levels of chymotrypsin itself increase in parallel with food intake. The mechanistically similar bacterial enzyme subtilisin is widespread in the environment, animal probiotics, meat processing and cleaning products. Simple public health schemes in these areas, with selective serine protease inhibitors and AHR antagonists and could prevent a range of intestinal and other cancers.

Indexed as

Models, BiologicalAnimalsHumansNeoplasmsObesityChymotrypsinDCCDependence receptorsKynurenineObesitySerine proteasesSubtilisin

Identifiers

PMID29526577
PMCPMC5952217
OpenAlexW2794372989

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.