Chemotherapy Treatment in Children With Leukemia Hindered by Excessive Weight

Recent findings published online first in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research reveal that obesity is an important factor contributing to chemotherapy resistance and increasing relapse rates among children with leukemia.

Obesity is associated with increased incidence and mortality of many types of cancer. Leukemia is the most common cancer in children, affecting more than 2,000 children each year in the United States alone, according to background materials in the study.

Given the increasing prevalence of obesity worldwide, these findings could have important implications for cancer treatment and may help explain the increased leukemia relapse rate in obese patients, according to the study's lead researcher Steven D. Mittelman, M.D., Ph.D. Mittelman is the fellowship research director with the Division of Endocrinology at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, and assistant professor of pediatrics, physiology and biophysics at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California.



Source-Eurekalert
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