A group of researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, at the University of California, Los Angeles (USA) argue that obesity is an even stronger risk factor for liver cancer than cirrhosis, induced by this disease of an insatiable, eternally munching,. To such a disappointing conclusion, scientists came up with an analysis of the results of multicenter, randomized clinical and, in some cases, pathological studies.

The sample for the study of the problem was provided by the participants of the Nurses Women's Health program, which was once conducted in 1989, 1994, and then in 1999, during which about 18,000 nurses aged 25 to 55 years. The data fixed in this program fully met the requirements necessary for assessing the relationship between cancer and obesity and the definition of the group and the degree of risk. The scientists on hand had ultrasound data from the abdominal organs, including the liver, as well as height, weight, body mass index and bad habits. At the time of the examination, 54 people showed signs of liver cancer, and after a biopsy, the diagnosis was confirmed in 48 participants.

At the same time, the presence and degree of fatty degeneration of the liver accompanying obesity in more than 80% of cases. It was found that more than half of patients (in 26) had an elevated body mass index, and 18 had signs of fatty hepatosis. After analyzing the delayed results, 10 years from the beginning of the project, the scientists came to the conclusion that the emerging trend will continue. Moreover, with age, the number of people with excess weight is steadily increasing, and the compensatory capacity of the liver is reduced, which further emphasizes the impartial connection.

As a conclusion and an explanation the authors of the paper suggest the following concept: the emerging fatty degeneration of the liver they consider as a precancerous condition. In this case, there is accelerated proliferation, that is, the growth and development of liver cells, and the inhibition of their programmed death or apoptosis, a process that normally protects against tumors. These processes can quite independently stimulate neogenesis, that is, the growth of tumor cells.

Medicus. En.