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Metabolic Syndrome Linked to Increased Breast Cancer Mortality

People with breast cancer who also have metabolic syndrome may have an increased risk for recurrence and death, according to a review published earlier this year in the Journal of Internal Medicine that will be presented next month at the 2025 European Congress on Obesity in Malaga, Spain. Metabolic syndrome occurs when a person has three of the following five risk factors for cardiovascular and chronic diseases: high blood pressure, high triglycerides, low high-density lipoprotein, high fasting glucose and obesity, Inside Precision Medicine reported. While previous research found having metabolic syndrome increases a person’s risk of developing breast cancer, researchers looked to see if the condition impacts patient outcomes. In a review of 17 studies including 42,135 breast cancer survivors, researchers found people with metabolic syndrome at cancer diagnosis had a 69% higher risk for recurrence and an 83% higher risk for breast cancer-specific death than survivors without metabolic syndrome. While the exact cause of the association is unclear, researchers hypothesized it may be because metabolic syndrome increases estrogen levels and inflammation, which promote disease progression. Researchers said screening for metabolic syndrome at the time of breast cancer diagnosis may help catch conditions like diabetes and hypertension earlier and potentially improve outcomes. “As precision medicine continues to evolve, incorporating metabolic profiling into clinical care could help identify subgroups of patients who may benefit from more individualized follow-up and supportive interventions,” Sixten Harborg, the study’s lead author and an oncologist at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, told Inside Precision Medicine.

People With Lung Cancer Continue to Benefit After Stopping Immunotherapy

Some people with lung cancer who stop receiving immunotherapy earlier than planned because of side effects can still reap the treatment’s benefits for months or even years, according to a study published in Clinical Cancer Research. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are a form of immunotherapy that blocks proteins that keep the immune system in check, unleashing immune cells to attack cancer cells. However, ICIs can cause several side effects, such as colon inflammation, liver damage or pneumonia, which can lead patients to discontinue treatment, HealthDay reported. In the study, researchers followed 2,794 people with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who received ICIs, 10% of whom stopped treatment due to side effects. Researchers found, on average, patients had no cancer progression for almost 13 months after ending treatment and they survived for more than three years. Researchers found people who received ICIs the longest before discontinuing had the best outcomes. People who took ICIs for more than six months had progression-free survival of 25.8 months and overall survival of 86.9 months, compared with 6.2 months and 21.7 months, respectively, for those who received treatment for less than three months. “These outcomes suggest that patients can experience prolonged disease control and survival after stopping treatment due to toxicity or if side effects are impacting their quality of life,” Federica Pecci, the study’s lead investigator and a researcher at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, said in a press release.

Smoking Rates Continue to Drop, But Cervical Cancer Screening Rates Remain Stagnant

U.S. adults continue to quit smoking, but rates of other behaviors that can reduce cancer risk—such as getting screened for cervical cancer and exercising—have stalled, according to a report on modifiable cancer risk factors published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Researchers used data from national surveys administered from 2019 to 2023 to estimate the prevalence of certain behaviors. They found 11% of Americans smoked cigarettes in 2023, down from 14% in 2019, CNN reported. Meanwhile, 73.4% of people ages 21 to 65 were up to date on cervical cancer screenings in 2021, down slightly from 74.8% in 2019. The HPV vaccination rate among teens 13 to 17 rose from 54.2% in 2019 to 61.7% in 2021 but has since flattened, maintaining a 61.4% rate in 2023. “These latest findings are encouraging, mainly the reduction in smoking rates and screening for certain cancers, but it’s clear urgent efforts are needed to address lagging cervical cancer prevention,” Priti Bandi, the study’s lead author and a researcher at the American Cancer Society, said in a press release. Additionally, researchers found 31.8% of Americans were overweight, 40.4% had obesity, 51.5% did not meet recommended weekly physical activity levels, and 6.4% reported drinking alcohol heavily in 2023—all similar to rates in 2020.

Gut Toxin May Contribute to Rising Early-onset Colorectal Cancer Rates

The reason behind the recent rise in colorectal cancer incidence in young people has so far eluded researchers, but they may have now identified a potential cause. In a study published in Nature, researchers sequenced the tumor DNA of 981 people with colorectal cancer. They found people younger than 40 were 3.3 times more likely to have DNA mutations related to colibactin than people older than 70, NBC News reported. Produced by harmful gut bacteria, colibactin is a toxin that can damage cell DNA in the colon, increasing the risk of developing cancer. “Around 50% of early-onset colorectal cancers in individuals under 40 carried the distinctive signature of colibactin exposure,” Ludmil Alexandrov, the study’s senior author and a bioengineering and cellular and molecular medicine professor at the University of California, San Diego, told NBC News. While some people may be more susceptible to the effects of colibactin than others, researchers also theorized lifestyle changes may have contributed to rising early-onset colorectal cancer rates in recent years. Possible causes may include diets with more processed foods and less fiber, more C-section births, lower rates of breastfeeding, and increased use of group early childcare, which could facilitate microbial transmission. “Collectively these shifts may be tipping the balance towards early-life acquisition of these microbes,” Alexandrov said. Researchers plan to develop a test to find exposure to colibactin-producing bacteria, which could identify the people at highest risk for early-onset colorectal cancer.