Review
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World J Transl Med. Dec 12, 2014; 3(3): 119-132
Published online Dec 12, 2014. doi: 10.5528/wjtm.v3.i3.119
Obesity research: Status quo and future outlooks
Alexander T El Gammal, Anna Dupree, Stefan Wolter, Jens Aberle, Jakob R Izbicki, Cenap Güngör, Oliver Mann
Alexander T El Gammal, Anna Dupree, Stefan Wolter, Jakob R Izbicki, Cenap Güngör, Oliver Mann, Department of General, Visceral, and Thoracic Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Jens Aberle, Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Author contributions: El Gammal AT, Dupree A and Wolter S contributed equally to the presented work and therefore share first authorship; Aberle J and Izbicki JR contributed to the manuscript; Güngör C and Mann O contributed equally to the presented work and therefore share senior authorship.
Correspondence to: Cenap Güngör, PhD, Department of General, Visceral, and Thoracic Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany. c.guengoer@uke.de
Telephone: +49-40-741051956 Fax: +49-40-741053496
Received: July 28, 2014
Revised: September 23, 2014
Accepted: October 14, 2014
Published online: December 12, 2014
Abstract

Obesity is a multifactorial disease showing a pandemic increase within the last decades in developing, and developed countries. It is associated with several severe comorbidities such as type II diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, non-alcoholic steatosis hepatis and cancer. Due to the increasing number of overweight individuals worldwide, research in the field of obesity has become more vital than ever. Currently, great efforts are spend to understand this complex disease from a biological, psychological and sociological angle. Further insights of obesity research come from bariatric surgery that provides new information regarding hormonal changes during weight loss. The initiation of programs for obesity treatment, both interventional and pharmaceutical, are being pursued with the fullest intensity. Currently, bariatric surgery is the most effective therapy for weight loss and resolution of comorbidities in morbid obese patients. Reasons for weight loss and remission of comorbidities following Roux-en-Y-Gastric Bypass, Sleeve Gastrectomy, and other bariatric procedures are therefore under intense investigation. In this review, however, we will focus on obesity treatment, highlighting new insights and future trends of gut hormone research, the relation of obesity and cancer development via the obesity induced chronic state of inflammation, and new potential concepts of interventional and conservative obesity treatment.

Keywords: Obesity, Cancer, Gut hormones, Bariatric surgery

Core tip: This review focuses on the latest obesity research breakthroughs, current therapy options, future outlooks, also from a view of a surgeon as well as recently identified molecules that promote obesity and its comorbidities, outlining their great potential as new target molecules in the fight against the global pandemic, called “obesity”.