Abstract
Leptin is an important regulator of basal metabolism and food intake, with a pivotal role in obesity. Leptin exerts many different actions on various tissues and systems, including cancer, and is considered as a linkage between metabolism and the immune system. During the last decades, obesity and leptin have been associated with the initiation, proliferation and progression of many types of cancer. Obesity is also linked with complications and mortality, irrespective of the therapy used, affecting clinical outcomes. However, some evidence has suggested its beneficial role, called the “obesity paradox”, and the possible antitumoral role of leptin. Recent data regarding the immunotherapy of cancer have revealed that overweight leads to a more effective response and leptin may probably be involved in this beneficial process. Since leptin is a positive modulator of both the innate and the adaptive immune system, it may contribute to the increased immune response stimulated by immunotherapy in cancer patients and may be proposed as a good actor in cancer. Our purpose is to review this dual role of leptin in cancer, as well as trying to clarify the future perspectives of this adipokine, which further highlights its importance as a cornerstone of the immunometabolism in oncology.
Highlights
Leptin is a non-glycosylated hormone consisting of 167 amino acids whose existence was predicted for the first time in leptin deficient and leptin receptor deficient mice [1,2] and later described as the product of the obese (Ob) gene [3]
Low leptin levels have been correlated with pancreatic cancer [180,181]. Taking all these results together, we suggest the name of “leptin paradox” to explain the dual role of leptin in cancer, in a similar way to obesity
We strongly believe in the great value of leptin as a potential biomarker in cancer, and in many other diseases, since there are a wide variety of studies supporting and demonstrating this idea, including those of our research group
Summary
Leptin is a non-glycosylated hormone consisting of 167 amino acids whose existence was predicted for the first time in leptin deficient (ob/ob) and leptin receptor deficient (db/db) mice [1,2] and later described as the product of the obese (Ob) gene [3]. Inflammation sometimes takes a long period of time and could downregulate immune system functions, producing homeostatic changes and chronic pathological states, such as chronic inflammation [12] In this context, leptin has a proinflammatory capacity, with a key role in obesity and food intake [13,14,15], and in neuroendocrine regulation [16], 4.0/). Obese patients have been shown to obtain better responses to cancer immunotherapies [28,29,30], that may be related to leptin levels For those reasons, the purpose of this article is to review the available literature concerning the relationship between leptin and chronic inflammation in cancer and the role of leptin as both a bad and good actor in the disease to better understand the possible dual effect of this hormone
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
