OBITEC 2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
OBITEC: Uncovering obesity and diabetes related complex metabolic dysregulation associated to endometrial cancer
IRAS ID
154598
Contact name
M Kyrgiou
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Research summary
With the rise of obesity and diabetes and cancers linked to these conditions, effective highly compliant interventions for severe and/or uncontrollable manifestations of obesity such as bariatric surgery are becoming more established. Whilst the associations between obesity and endometrial cancer are well recognised, they have neither been quantified nor have the consequences of such interventions been well-studied, particularly not in the context of molecular pathogenesis and the impact of metabolic state change on molecular systems and global pathways linked to endometrial pathophysiology.
We hypothesise that complex metabolic dysregulation, such as insulin resistance, plays a role in endometrial carcinogenesis and interventions that correct this may translate to reduced incidence of this increasingly common malignancy.
To this end, we propose to investigate whether bariatric surgery is associated with significant changes in molecular and clinical predictors of endometrial cancer in a prospective study of obese post-menopausal women planned for surgery(n=200) and a control matched population(n=200). We will assess serologic, urine and tissue changes in the expression of markers before/after surgery and amongst the two groups.
Our specific aims are to: 1)Investigate whether the improvement of insulin resistance and/or obesity after surgery may reduce the endometrial thickness, preneoplasia/neoplasia 2)Evaluate whether surgery leads to changes in molecular pathways associated with endometrial neoplasia. We will compare sequential samples of endometrium-serum-urine before/after surgery and to a control matched population with the aim to identify predictive and targetable molecules that could be used to prevent neoplastic pathways 3)Validate these molecular targets in in-vitro models on normal endometrial cells in culture, and validate those in independent patient cohorts.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 5
REC reference
14/WS/1098
Date of REC Opinion
29 Oct 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion