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. 2022 Aug 8;13(10):3044-3050.
doi: 10.7150/jca.76052. eCollection 2022.

Hypothesis: Mutations and Immunosurveillance in Obesity-Associated Colorectal Cancer

Affiliations

Hypothesis: Mutations and Immunosurveillance in Obesity-Associated Colorectal Cancer

Darina Lazarova et al. J Cancer. .

Abstract

Tumorigenesis typically requires the accumulation of several driver gene mutations; therefore, there is a mutation threshold for the completion of the neoplastic process. Obesity increases the risk of cancer, and we have proposed that one mechanism whereby obesity raises the risk of microsatellite stable (MSS) colon cancer is by decreasing the mutation threshold. Therefore, obese MSS colon cancer patients should exhibit fewer driver gene mutations compared to normal body-mass index (BMI) patients. Our hypothesis is supported by results from analyses of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data, which revealed that cancer genomes of obese MSS colon patients exhibit both fewer somatic mutations and fewer driver gene mutations. These findings could be explained by the high levels of obesity-associated cytokines and factors, the signaling pathways of which substitute for the additional driver gene mutations detected in normal-weight MSS colon cancer patients. Therefore, obesity-induced aberrant cell signaling might cooperate with initiating driver gene mutations to promote neoplastic development. Consistent with this possibility, we observed a lower number of KRAS mutations in high-BMI MSS colon cancer patients. This paper extends our hypothesis to address the interactions between obesity, immune surveillance in neoplastic development, and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. A better understanding of these interactions will inform future preventive and therapeutic approaches against MSS CRC. We propose that the individual variations in the major histocompatibility class 1 (MHC-1) genotype interact with obesity to shape the tumor mutational landscape. Thus, the efficiency of the immune surveillance mechanisms to select against specific mutations may depend on both the MHC-1 genotype variant and the BMI of an individual. A high BMI is expected to reduce the number of driver gene mutations required to evade the MHC-1 surveillance mechanism and support an accelerated cancer progression.

Keywords: BMI; Colon cancer; cell signaling; mutations; obesity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The interplay between BMI and MHC-1-based surveillance impacts the mutation landscape of cancer. Initial driver gene mutations start the neoplastic process. In obese individuals, the activation of cell survival and proliferative signaling pathways, altered gut microbiome, epigenetic changes, increased stem cell numbers, maintenance medications, and febrile episodes (among others) influence the process of tumorigenesis, affecting the number and type of driver gene mutations required for progression to CRC and the age of cancer diagnosis. MHC-1 genotypes create immune surveillance filters with different efficiency to shape the mutation landscape of cancer. The immune surveillance is suppressed by obesity, thus further differentiating the mutation profiles of normal-BMI and high-BMI individuals. During the immunosuppressive late stages of neoplastic development, some antigenic mutations are no longer selected against and can accumulate particularly in normal-weight individuals, and such individuals usually require a higher number of driver gene mutations for neoplastic progression. All of these factors, as well as lifestyle differences (not included here), affect the cancer mutation landscape, and the age of cancer diagnosis in normal-BMI versus high-BMI individuals.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Timeline of neoplastic events in MSS colorectal cancer and our hypothesis. An initiating mutation (typically in APC) deregulates Wnt activity. Later mutations may reinforce this deregulation and may be more frequent in obesity. However, subsequent driver gene mutations (e.g., KRAS, PTEN) are less frequent in obesity because the downstream effects of these mutations are substituted by obesity-induced cell growth and survival pathways. Several external factors (e.g., lifestyle, obesity, and other factors synergizing with obesity) influence the number and type of driver genes in individual tumors. After the first initiating event(s), tumor immunosurveillance, influenced by the MHC-1 genotypic variation, acts as a “sieve” to affect the spectrum of mutations in surviving tumor cells.

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