Integrative analysis of pathway deregulation in obesity

Abstract

Obesity transcriptomic signature shares features with cancer The worldwide increase in obesity is extremely worrisome, especially because this condition is associated with a higher risk for diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cancer. Identifying alterations in regulatory and metabolic activities associated with obesity is complicated due to the presence of noise. A team lead by Caterina La Porta from the University of Milan addressed the question from the point of view of big data and extracted a signature of 38 genes associated to obesity from the combination of publicly available gene expression data from obese and lean subjects. The results revealed a similarity between the deregulation patterns observed in obesity and those found in breast cancer and diabetes, providing a clearer picture of the role of obesity in these diseases.