Targeting Obesity-Induced Inflammation in Cancer Using Nanotherapeutics

Bizimana Rukundo T.

Faculty of Biological Sciences Kampala International University Uganda

                                                                                   ABSTRACT
Obesity drives a state of chronic, low-grade inflammation that reshapes tissue physiology and systemic immunity, accelerates carcinogenesis, and blunts responses to therapy. Adipocyte hypertrophy, hypoxia, and lipotoxicity trigger cytokine and chemokine cascades, recruit and polarize myeloid cells, and distort stromal architecture, yielding a tumor microenvironment that is immunosuppressed, fibrotic, and metabolically hostile.
Nanotechnology offers a toolkit to precisely modulate this inflammatory circuitry while minimizing off-target toxicity. Liposomal and polymeric carriers, biomimetic vesicles, and inorganic or hybrid platforms can concentrate anti-inflammatory drugs, nucleic acids, and immune agonists in adipose depots and tumors, program release to match local pH/ROS/enzymatic cues, and bias delivery toward myeloid or stromal targets. This review synthesizes mechanistic links between obesity-induced inflammation and cancer, surveys nanotherapeutic strategies that dampen pathologic signaling or re-educate immune and stromal compartments, and outlines translational guidance for dosing, safety, and manufacturing in high-BMI populations. A unifying theme is context-aware engineering that aligns carrier physicochemistry and ligands with the altered vascular, immune, and metabolic landscapes of obesity to convert a systemic liability into a therapeutic entry point.

Keywords: nanotherapeutics; obesity-induced inflammation; tumor microenvironment; immunometabolism; cancer prevention and therapy.

CITE AS: Bizimana Rukundo T. (2026). Targeting Obesity-Induced Inflammation in Cancer Using Nanotherapeutics. Research Output Journal of Biological and Applied Science 6(1):19-26.
https://doi.org/10.59298/ROJBAS/2026/611926