Chronic Obesity Does Not Alter Cancer Survival in Mice

Obesity is a complex chronic disease characterized by excessive adiposity and associations with numerous co-morbidities, including cancer. Despite extensive research, we have limited understanding of the mechanisms coupling obesity to cancer risk, and, of the contexts in which obesity does or does not exacerbate disease. Here, we show that chronic high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity has no significant effect on the mouse, a model of human Li-Fraumeni multi-cancer syndrome. Surprisingly, despite inducing rapid and highly penetrant obesity and long-term differences in metabolic and adiposity, greater than one year of HFD had no significant effect on survival or tumor burden. These findings were replicated in two separate cohorts and thus provide important negative data for the field. Given strong publication bias against negative data in the literature, this large cohort study represents a clear case where chronic diet-induced obesity does not accelerate or aggravate cancer outcomes. The data thus carry high impact for researchers, funders, and policymakers alike.