Carlos Solis
People with steatosis, or fatty liver, are more likely to develop one of the most aggressive forms of colon cancer, new research shows. The paper appears in Nature. The research team is based at the Catholic University of Leuven and the Leuven Oncology Institute.
About one in five people has nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which is linked to excess weight, poor diet, and a sedentary lifestyle. At the same time, doctors are seeing a rise in colon cancer cases among people under 50, and obesity is considered a key driver of that trend.
The researchers found that people with steatosis are more likely to develop aggressive metastases. Lead author Professor Sara-Maria Fendt said the finding matters because fatty liver disease is spreading rapidly worldwide as obesity and type 2 diabetes become more common.
How fat in the liver helps tumors grow
Fatty livers have elevated levels of fatty acids. Those fatty acids change cancer cell behavior by stabilizing the protein MYC, which drives tumor growth. When MYC stabilizes, cancer cells ramp up production of the amino acid proline, and the body uses proline to make collagen.
Excess collagen builds a scaffold that tumor cells can use to invade and expand inside the liver, gradually displacing healthy tissue. As Professor Fendt puts it, “a fatty liver gives the tumor both the signal and the building materials for aggressive growth.” She says this shifts the rules of how metastases form.
The team worked with patient tissues and showed that blocking different links in this pathway could slow aggressive tumor growth. They successfully targeted MYC, amino acid production, or collagen formation, and each intervention reduced the growth of metastatic lesions.
This strategy could let doctors tailor treatment more precisely. If clinicians factor in a patient’s metabolic state, clinical trials would become more efficient and patients would get effective therapies faster.
In practice, improving metabolic health can lower a person’s risk of an aggressive form of the disease. Maintaining a healthy weight, cutting back on alcohol, and eating a balanced diet reduce the chance of developing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease — and may therefore lower the risk of severe metastases.
Practical tips that help
- Don’t smoke.
- Manage your weight; lose pounds under a doctor’s supervision if needed.
- Exercise regularly.
- Limit alcohol intake.
- Follow a balanced diet.
This article is based on reporting in the Daily Mail
