A team of researchers from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Markey Cancer Center in Lexington, Kentucky, report that the efficacy of doxorubicin, a widely used chemotherapy drug, was enhanced in preclinical lymphoma models when it was combined with propranolol, a beta-2 adrenergic receptor (β-AR) blocker commonly used to treat high blood pressure, and which also blocks the effects of stress in the body. The approach illustrates the team’s findings that the metabolic fitness of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) — white blood cells that can suppress the immune system and support tumor growth and metastasis — limits response to therapy.

Obesity is associated with a higher risk of developing at least 13 types of cancer — and worse outcomes after diagnosis. But lung cancer seems to be an exception: Studies have shown that patients with a high body mass index (BMI) experience a lower risk of disease recurrence and longer survival after surgical treatment — an irregularity called “the obesity paradox.” In light of obesity’s detrimental effects in other cancers, what accounts for those unexpected outcomes?