Gene expression profiling of The Cancer Genome Atlas supports an inverse association between body mass index (BMI) and major oesophageal tumour subtypes

In the last decade the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program has revealed significant insights into molecular events of dozens of cancers. These data sets are continuously updated, providing an unprecedented resource to the research community. There is now an emerging link between obesity and the development and progression of cancer. In this study we wished to identify genes related to body mass index (BMI) in TCGA datasets. Supporting epidemiological data, our gene expression profiling analyses suggest that oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) can be considered a true obesity-associated cancer subtype, presenting avenues for prevention and treatment.