Epithelial cancers arise in the epithelium -- the tissue that lines the surfaces and cavities of the body's organs -- and comprise 80 percent of all cancers.

University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center researchers specifically found a restricted-calorie diet inhibited the development of precancerous growths in a two-step model of skin cancer, reducing the activation of two signaling pathways known to contribute to cancer growth and development.

An obesity-inducing diet, by contrast, activated the pathways, said graduate student Tricia Moore, first author of the study.

"These results, while tested in a mouse model of skin cancer, are broadly applicable to epithelial cancers in other tissues," said senior author John DiGiovanni, director of M.D. Anderson's Science Park Research Division.

The research that also included Steve Carbajal, Anna Jiang, Linda Beltran, and Steve Hursting was reported Monday in San Diego during the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.