The study of genes and variants related to different obesity-related cancer types in an Iranian population with severe obesity

There is increasing evidence that obesity increases the risk of developing various diseases, including cancers. Obesity is associated with cancers of the breast, colon and rectum, esophagus, stomach, gallbladder, uterus, pancreas and ovaries. The relationship between obesity and cancer is quite complex. Obesity is not only associated with an increased risk of cancer, it may also increase the risk of recurrence or death in cancer survivors. Therefore, obesity management as an early intervention step in patients with cancer at an early stage is important to improve cancer outcomes. Given the alarming increase in the prevalence of severe obesity, which means that obesity persists from childhood to adolescence and adulthood, as well as the very high incidence of young adults with obesity-related comorbidities, the clinical and economic burden on the health system will increase. In addition, identifying genetic factors involved in the development of cancer in obese individuals could be important in the prevention and early detection of cancer, as well as more effective interventions and treatments. Therefore, the aim of this project is to examine the Whole Exome Sequencing data of severely obese individuals in terms of pathogenic variants or variants of unknown significance in genes that cause cancer types in order to obtain a picture of the frequency and distribution of variants, genes, and cancers that can be predicted in severely obese individuals from the Iranian population. This information can be helpful in planning for supporting severely obese individuals and preventing, diagnosing, or treating cancer early in these individuals. Given that obesity plays a significant role not only in cancer incidence but also in cancer mortality and recurrence, and on the other hand, identifying genetic factors that predispose obese individuals to cancer can be important in identifying susceptible individuals and how to deal with the affected individual in terms of therapeutic or preventive and diagnostic approaches, the findings of this project can be useful and effective in reducing cancer mortality in severely obese individuals and reduce health system costs.