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Peer-reviewedCC BYInternational journal of molecular sciences

A Review of the Relationship Between Obesity and Immunotherapy Response in Cancer.

  • Qiongyu Shi1,2
  • Pedro Ramos1,2
  • Carol Plazas Asaad1
  • Tomas Alejandro Leibkuchler1
  • Ashley R Gaffey1,2
  • Weizhou Zhang1,3
  • Ryan Kolb1,3
  1. 1Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA.
  2. 2Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA.
  3. 3UF Health Cancer Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA.
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Abstract

Obesity is a growing public health concern, being correlated with several comorbidities including heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, and several cancers. It has been demonstrated that obesity increases the risk of developing several types of cancers as well as being associated with a worse prognosis, increased metastasis, increased recurrence, and worse response to therapy. Paradoxically, early clinical trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors found a correlation between obesity and increased response to immune checkpoint inhibitors-a phenomenon referred to as the obesity paradox. Since then, numerous studies have been done to further examine the correlation between obesity and response to immune checkpoint inhibitors, with both confirmatory and non-confirmatory results depending on the type of cancer. Many of these studies have found contradicting results, indicating a need for further studies and meta-analyses to validate or refute this correlation. Here, we review recent studies on the correlation between obesity and response to immune checkpoint inhibitors across different types of cancer, with an emphasis on meta-analyses when available, discuss hypothesized mechanisms for this correlation, and highlight the knowledge gaps that need to be filled.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{shi2026review,
  title = {{A Review of the Relationship Between Obesity and Immunotherapy Response in Cancer.}},
  author = {Qiongyu Shi and Pedro Ramos and Carol Plazas Asaad and Tomas Alejandro Leibkuchler and Ashley R Gaffey and Weizhou Zhang and Ryan Kolb},
  journal = {International journal of molecular sciences},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.3390/ijms27198587},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883833},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - A Review of the Relationship Between Obesity and Immunotherapy Response in Cancer.
AU  - Qiongyu Shi
AU  - Pedro Ramos
AU  - Carol Plazas Asaad
AU  - Tomas Alejandro Leibkuchler
AU  - Ashley R Gaffey
AU  - Weizhou Zhang
AU  - Ryan Kolb
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/25
JO  - International journal of molecular sciences
DO  - 10.3390/ijms27198587
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883833
AB  - Obesity is a growing public health concern, being correlated with several comorbidities including heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, and several cancers. It has been demonstrated that obesity increases the risk of developing several types of cancers as well as being associated with a worse prognosis, increased metastasis, increased recurrence, and worse response to therapy. Paradoxically, early clinical trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors found a correlation between obesity and increased response to immune checkpoint inhibitors-a phenomenon referred to as the obesity paradox. Since then, numerous studies have been done to further examine the correlation between obesity and response to immune checkpoint inhibitors, with both confirmatory and non-confirmatory results depending on the type of cancer. Many of these studies have found contradicting results, indicating a need for further studies and meta-analyses to validate or refute this correlation. Here, we review recent studies on the correlation between obesity and response to immune checkpoint inhibitors across different types of cancer, with an emphasis on meta-analyses when available, discuss hypothesized mechanisms for this correlation, and highlight the knowledge gaps that need to be filled.
SN  - 1422-0067
ER  -