Figure 1.

Obesity alters the immunometabolic landscape to support gastrointestinal cancer. Obese adipose tissue secretes metabolites that have been proven to show oncogenic potential. These include insulin, insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), glucose, cholesterol, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and pro-inflammatory cytokines. These metabolites and cytokines then enter the circulation to neighbouring gastrointestinal organs where they drive normal cells to cancer cells and ultimately to metastatic cancer cells. IL, interleukin; MAPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase; mTOR, mechanistic target of rapamycin; PI3K, phosphoinositide-3-kinase; RAS, rat sarcoma; TNFα, tumour necrosis factor alpha. This figure was created using Biorender.com (accessed on 7 August 2023).