Coping with chemoresistance in prostate cancer—co-targeting of adipose stromal cells?

“Obesity begets cancer” is an apt adage considering increasing research pointing to obesity as an important causal factor for increased risk and aggressiveness of many cancer types (1-3). In prostate cancer (PCa), obesity plays a complex role with obesity reported to reduce the risk of localized, low grade, indolent PCa (4) while increasing the risk of aggressive, high grade disease (5). Obesity has been associated with increased PCa mortality as a result of aggressive disease (1,3). In addition, obesity leads to increased risk of biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radical prostatectomy (RP) (4). Considering the increasing prevalence of obesity across populations and increasing incidences and mortality of aggressive PCa, understanding the underlying mechanisms are vital and is currently an area of active investigations.