INFECTION, INFLAMMATION, AND LEPTIN IN CANCER

Each year, more than 1.5 million individuals are newly diagnosed with cancer of various internal organs in the US (http://seer.cancer.gov/report_to_nation/). In addition, an even larger number of individuals develop skin cancer http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/skin-cancer-facts). In fact, cancer is a leading cause of death in the US with > 500,000 cancer related deaths each year (http://seer.cancer.gov/archive/csr/1975_2010/). In addition to the personal travails from cancer, the overall burden of ill health, morbidity, and work loss due to the disease is estimated to cost the nation more than $100 billion annually. Thus, cancer is an important topic to be investigated.Over the last decade, it has been noted that obesity and chronic infection are risk factors for developing cancer, with chronic inflammation serving as a common denominator for the diverse pathways leading up to malignant conversion and progression. In particular, Leptin (the 16 kD protein product of the obesity gene), is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that is aberrantly expressed in many types of cancer. Since Leptin may be an early target for cancer prevention or therapeutic intervention, natural products and synthetic compounds that down regulate Leptin expression need to be screened and evaluated for potential anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.