Abstract: Overweight and obesity are associated with an increased risk of metabolic developmental disorders, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, in addition to these metabolic diseases, excess body weight is associated with various cancers, including cancer of the gastrointestinal tract, such as liver, pancreatic and colon cancers. Inflammation is a common feature of obesity and cancer. In addition to diet and physical factors that contribute to the intestinal barrier (mucus, epithelial cell renewal and tight junction proteins), is important to consider the immune intestinal system. Similar to obesity and metabolic disorders, inflammation is recognized as the enabler of cancer development, providing support for multiple hallmark features of cancers, including the supply of bioactive molecules, such as growth, survival, and pro-angiogenic factors. At an evolutionary level, the relationship between humans and bacteria is so close that we can think of our body as a sort of superorganism made up of human and microbial cells. It is not only the action of individual microorganisms that defines a possible pathological condition. Even the general composition of the microbiota can contribute to the development of a tumor and one of the most studied conditions, known for its influence on the intestinal bacterial community, is obesity which is associated with a reduction of variability within the microbiota composition. In the future, bacteria could therefore be a valuable ally in the fight against cancer.

Keywords: metabolism, cancer, inflammation, obesity, bacteria, microbiota

Pages: 368-388