Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government
Email

Research Advances from the Diet, Lipid Metabolism, and Tumor Growth and Progression (DLT) Program

Discoveries from the DLT Program are advancing our understanding of how diet and lipid metabolism interact with tumor biology and identifying molecular mechanisms that could ultimately be leveraged to improve cancer prevention and treatment.

Immune and Inflammatory Mechanisms

Researchers with the University of South Florida DLT Project found that an obesogenic diet disrupts the gut microbiome, alters lipid (i.e. fat) metabolism, and promotes liver inflammation (including changes resembling non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) in preclinical models. They also showed that switching back to a control diet restores microbial and lipid profiles, as well as reduces inflammation, which suggests the potential reversibility of obesity-associated metabolic and inflammatory changes.

Metabolic and Endocrine Signaling Mechanisms

Investigators with the University of Utah DLT Project showed that hyperlipidemia (i.e., high levels of fats in the blood) is a driver of breast cancer progression in preclinical models. According to the authors of the study, the findings "suggest that lipid-lowering interventions may be a promising strategy to mitigate breast cancer risk in individuals with obesity."

  • Updated:

If you would like to reproduce some or all of this content, see Reuse of NCI Information for guidance about copyright and permissions. In the case of permitted digital reproduction, please credit the National Cancer Institute as the source and link to the original NCI product using the original product's title; e.g., “Research Advances from the Diet, Lipid Metabolism, and Tumor Growth and Progression (DLT) Program was originally published by the National Cancer Institute.”

Email