How being obese puts thousands more at risk of liver cancer than previously thought

BEING obese is putting thousands more people at risk of liver cancer than doctors previously thought, prompting calls to earlier and more advanced screening for the killer disease.

THOUSANDS more obese people are at risk of liver cancer than previously thought, prompting calls to overhaul screening for the killer disease.

New Melbourne research has discovered liver cancer can develop much sooner and in healthier people than formerly believed, with up to half of all cases occurring in people not currently considered for screening.

The Monash University and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre research has found people who are obese and have fatty liver, but have not yet developed liver disease, can progress straight to developing terminal cancer.

1 IN 3 VICTORIAN CHILDREN OVERWEIGHT

EXPERTS EXAMINE LINK BETWEEN SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE AND CANCER

OBESITY IS LINKED TO INCREASED RISK OF 13 DIFFERENT CANCERS

Simply being obese is enough to put people at risk of liver cancer.

Currently, only people with liver disease, such as cirrhosis, have been deemed at danger of developing liver cancer and provided with screening for the third most common cause of cancer death.

But the team led by Prof­essor Tony Tiganis found simply being obese was enough to put people at risk, and current screening was ignoring a major group of at-risk people.

“Simple fatty liver, which is otherwise quite benign, is sufficient to develop into cancer before you progress to more advanced disease,” Prof Tiganis said.

“It is thought by some that maybe as much as half of all liver cancers develop before these patients have progressed to more advanced forms of liver disease.

“Our study suggests we should look at it earlier, and there is a growing number of patients who have been found to develop liver cancer in the absence of that disease.”

Obesity has now overtaken smoking as the leading cause of cancer. Picture: istock

Obesity has now overtaken smoking as the leading cause of cancer, linked to 40 per cent of cases over the past decade according to the US Centers for Disease Control and ­Prevention.

Cases of liver cancer, or ­hepatocellular carcinoma, have tripled across Australia in the past 20 years. The study shows obese men are at four to five times greater risk of the disease.

Using an animal model, the researchers were able to find a new pathway in which liver cancer was developed in obese mice.

Previously, a protein called STAT-1 was known to trigger the development of serious liver disease that could then progress to cancer. However, Prof Tiganis’ team identified a different protein called STAT-3 that could progress straight to cancer without first triggering the telltale disease.

“We are not saying everyone who has liver disease who is obese will go on to liver cancer, it is only a small fraction … but it’s really important if we can find ways to identify those that are likely to develop liver cancer,” he said.

[e-mail]