COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research suggests modifiable patient characteristics like body mass index (BMI) in adulthood may negatively impact the immune environment, inhibiting the ability of the body’s natural defense system to identify and eradicate cancer cells.

“Although this is a first step, it is an exciting one that stresses the importance of understanding how lifestyle choices may be important to optimally harness our body’s immune system as a way to fight cancer,” says Daniel Stover, MD, principal investigator of the study and a breast medical oncologist with The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James). He presented this research at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium on December 8, 2021.

Stover and his team conducted a population-based, prospective observational study of 882 individuals enrolled to the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and the NHS II who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer with detailed exposure and gene expression data.

In this study group, 262 female patients (training cohort) had breast tumor immunohistochemistry (IHC) for four immune cell markers: CD8, CD4, CD20, CD163. Gene expression analysis was used to determine immune prediction scores. In the remaining 620 patients (testing cohort), researchers evaluated association of each immune cell-specific score as outcomes, with BMI change since age 18, physical activity and the empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP) score as predictors of lower immune system function.

Study results suggest that increasing BMI in adulthood (from age 18) is associated with a different profile of immune cells around and near the breast cancer tumor.

“We also found that the types of immune cells that are greater in number with higher body mass index tend to be immune suppressive — that is, they ‘tamp down’ the good immune cells trying to fight the tumor,” explains Stover. “Our data suggest that patient factors may influence the types of immune cells in or around tumors. This is different because most factors we focus on now are from the tumor itself.”

Stover’s team plans to validate this research in a separate cohort and ultimately hopes to move this into a clinical research trial of specific breast cancer patients to evaluate whether intervention targeting BMI could restore “normal” function of the tumor microenvironment.

To learn more about breast cancer treatment and research at the OSUCCC – James, visit cancer.osu.edu/breastcancer.

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Media Contact: Amanda Harper

OSUCCC – James Media Relations
Amanda.Harper2@osumc.edu