Lei Bhatt

Lei Bhatt studies how the adipokines leptin and adiponectin, secreted by adipose tissue in obesity-associated dysfunctional patterns, drive cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and survival. His research characterized leptin receptor signaling in cancer cells and demonstrated that hyperleptinemia in obesity activates JAK2-STAT3, PI3K-Akt, and MAPK pathways to promote cancer progression. He showed that low adiponectin in obesity removes a cancer-suppressive signal that normally activates AMPK and suppresses mTOR in cancer cells. His work directly links the adipokine dysregulation of obesity to oncogenic pathway activation.