Stressors and cancer

Metabolic stressors (4)

- Sleep deprivation

- Drugs

- Diet

- Exercise

Basis of Zani’s research

Link between SIC (stressors-inflammation-cancer)

Research line #1

Adipocytes, obesity and cancer

Research line #2

Artificial sweetners and cancer

Obesity and cancer

Obesity increases cancer risk

Obesity and WAT

Causes inflammation, accumulation and swelling of WAT

Inflammation and WAT

Alters WAT function (storage of E)

Consequence on liver

Fatty liver bc it has to store excess Glc

Cancer and WAT

Makes the cells release hormones and stored lipids to proliferate

Why study pancreatic cancer?

- Link observed between obesity and PC

- PC invades WAT

Nutrient Rich medium and PDAC

Growth of cancer cells

Co-culture (direct contact) and PDAC

+0.011 in number

Adipocyte conditioned medium (soluble factors from adipocyte)

+0.0206 in number

Conclusion 

Specific factors released by adipocytes promote the growth of cancer cells

Specific metabolites

Polar/water soluble metabolites (sugars and AAs)

What to artificial sweeteners activate?

Sweet taste receptors

Sweet taste receptors

- G protein-coupled receptor

- Heterodimer (T1R2+T1R3)

- Expressed in multiple cells

What suggests that artificial sweeteners do more than sweeten?

They are linked to increased desease and cancer risks

Homeostatic proliferation

Cell proliferation will be inversly proportionate to the intensity of the the color

Why was T-cell proliferation observed?

T-cells are part of our immune system = stop cancer

#1 Sucralose and number of T cells

T-cell production reduced

#2 Sucralose and tumor growth

Increased tumor size but only in immunocompetent mice (with T-cells)

Sucralose and autoimmunity

Delays it because it takes the mice more time to develop diabetes

Positive outcome

Mice developed diabetes slower or not at all during the study period