scholarly journals Lung Cancer Cachexia: Can Molecular Understanding Guide Clinical Management?

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 1000-1008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Sørensen

Cachexia has been recognized for a long time as an adverse effect of cancer. It is associated with reduced physical function, reduced tolerance to anticancer therapy, and reduced survival. This wasting syndrome is mainly known for an ongoing loss of skeletal muscle leading to progressive functional impairment and is driven by a variable combination of reduced food intake and abnormal metabolism. Cytokines derived from host immune system or the tumor itself is believed to play a role in promoting cancer cachexia. Circulating levels of cytokines, including IL-1α, IL-6, and TNFα have been identified in cancer patients but they probably only represent a small part of a changed and abnormal metabolism. Murine models have shown that browning of white adipose tissue (WAT) takes place early in the progression of cancer cachexia. Thus, browning of white adipose tissue is believed to be a strong contributor to the increased energy expenditure common in cachectic patients. Despite the severe implications of cancer cachexia for the patients and extensive research efforts, a more coherent and mechanistic explanation of the syndrome is lacking, and for many clinicians, cancer cachexia is still a vague concept. From a lung cancer perspective this commentary reviews the current knowledge on cancer cachexia mechanisms and identifies specific ways of clinical management regarding food intake, systemic inflammation, and muscular dysfunction. Much of what we know comes from preclinical studies. More translational research is needed for a future cancer cachexia screening tool to guide clinicians, and here possible variables for a cancer cachexia screening tool are considered.

2018 ◽  
Vol 315 (1) ◽  
pp. E29-E37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Peduti Halah ◽  
Paula Beatriz Marangon ◽  
Jose Antunes-Rodrigues ◽  
Lucila L. K. Elias

Neonatal nutritional changes induce long-lasting effects on energy homeostasis. Adiponectin influences food intake and body weight. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of neonatal nutritional programming on the central stimulation of adiponectin. Male Wistar rats were divided on postnatal (PN) day 3 in litters of 3 (small litter, SL), 10 (normal litter, NL), or 16 pups/dam (large litter, LL). We assessed body weight gain for 60 days, adiponectin concentration, and white adipose tissue weight. We examined the response of SL, NL, and LL rats on body weight gain, food intake, oxygen consumption (V̇o2), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), calorimetry, locomotor activity, phosphorylated-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) expression in the hypothalamus, and uncoupling protein (UCP)-1 in the brown adipose tissue after central stimulus with adiponectin. After weaning, SL rats maintained higher body weight gain despite similar food intake compared with NL rats. LL rats showed lower body weight at weaning, with a catch up afterward and higher food intake. Both LL and SL groups had decreased plasma concentrations of adiponectin at PN60. SL rats had increased white adipose tissue. Central injection of adiponectin decreased body weight and food intake and increased V̇o2, RER, calorimetry, p-AMPK and UCP- 1 expression in NL rats, but it had no effect on SL and LL rats, compared with the respective vehicle groups. In conclusion, neonatal under- and overfeeding induced an increase in body weight gain in juvenile and early adult life. Unresponsiveness to central effects of adiponectin contributes to the imbalance of the energy homeostasis in adult life induced by neonatal nutritional programming.


Physiology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 246-255
Author(s):  
Heike Münzberg ◽  
Elizabeth Floyd ◽  
Ji Suk Chang

Obesity research progresses in understanding neuronal circuits and adipocyte biology to regulate metabolism. However, the interface of neuro-adipocyte interaction is less studied. We summarize the current knowledge of adipose tissue innervation and interaction with adipocytes and emphasize adipocyte transitions from white to brown adipocytes and vice versa. We further highlight emerging concepts for the differential neuronal regulation of brown/beige versus white adipocyte and the interdependence of both for metabolic regulation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessio Molfino ◽  
Gianfranco Gioia ◽  
Filippo Rossi Fanelli ◽  
Alessandro Laviano

Inflammation characterizes the course of acute and chronic diseases and is largely responsible for the metabolic and behavioral changes occurring during the clinical journey of patients. Robust data indicate that, during cancer, functional modifications within brain areas regulating energy homeostasis contribute to the onset of anorexia, reduced food intake, and increased catabolism of muscle mass and adipose tissue. In particular, functional changes are associated with increased hypothalamic concentration of proinflammatory cytokines, which suggests that neuroinflammation may represent the adaptive response of the brain to peripheral challenges, including tumor growth. Within this conceptual framework, the vagus nerve appears to be involved in conveying alert signals to the hypothalamus, whereas hypothalamic serotonin appears to contribute to triggering catabolic signals.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. e92966 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Tsoli ◽  
Martina Schweiger ◽  
Anne S. Vanniasinghe ◽  
Arran Painter ◽  
Rudolf Zechner ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 284 (5) ◽  
pp. E901-E914 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Thamotharan ◽  
Robert A. McKnight ◽  
Shanthie Thamotharan ◽  
Doris J. Kao ◽  
Sherin U. Devaskar

We examined the long-term effect of in utero exposure to streptozotocin-induced maternal diabetes on the progeny that postnatally received either ad libitum access to milk by being fed by control mothers (CM/DP) or were subjected to relative nutrient restriction by being fed by diabetic mothers (DM/DP) compared with the control progeny fed by control mothers (CM/CP). There was increased food intake, glucose intolerance, and obesity in the CM/DP group and diminished food intake, glucose tolerance, and postnatal growth restriction in the DM/DP group, persisting in the adult. These changes were associated with aberrations in hormonal and metabolic profiles and alterations in hypothalamic neuropeptide Y concentrations. By use of subfractionation and Western blot analysis techniques, the CM/DP group demonstrated a higher skeletal muscle sarcolemma-associated ( days 1 and 60) and white adipose tissue plasma membrane-associated ( day 60) GLUT4 in the basal state with a lack of insulin-induced translocation. The DM/DP group demonstrated a partial amelioration of this change observed in the CM/DP group. We conclude that the offspring of a diabetic mother with ad libitum postnatal nutrition demonstrates increased food intake and resistance to insulin-induced translocation of GLUT4 in skeletal muscle and white adipose tissue. This in turn leads to glucose intolerance and obesity at a later stage ( day 180). Postnatal nutrient restriction results in reversal of this adult phenotype, thereby explaining the phenotypic heterogeneity that exists in this population.


2005 ◽  
Vol 289 (5) ◽  
pp. R1467-R1476 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Kay Song ◽  
Raven M. Jackson ◽  
Ruth B. S. Harris ◽  
Denis Richard ◽  
Timothy J. Bartness

Energy balance results from the coordination of multiple pathways affecting energy expenditure and food intake. Candidate neuropeptides involved in energy balance are the melanocortins. Several species, including Siberian hamsters studied here, decrease and increase food intake in response to stimulation and blockade of the melanocortin 4-receptor (MC4-R). In addition, central application of the MC3/4-R agonist melanotan-II decreases body fat (increases lipolysis) beyond that accounted for by its ability to decrease food intake. Because an increase in the sympathetic nervous system drive to white adipose tissue (WAT) is the principal initiator of lipolysis, we tested whether the sympathetic outflow circuitry from brain to WAT contained MC4-R mRNA expressing cells. This was accomplished by labeling the sympathetic outflow to inguinal WAT using the pseudorabies virus (PRV), a transneuronal retrograde viral tract tracer, and then processing the brain for colocalization of PRV immunoreactivity with MC4-R mRNA, the latter assessed by in situ hybridization. MC4-R mRNA was impressively colocalized in PRV-labeled cells (approximately greater than 60%) in many brain areas across the neuroaxis, including those typically implicated in lipid mobilization (e.g., hypothalamic paraventricular, suprachiasmatic, arcuate and dorsomedial nuclei, lateral hypothalamic area), as well as those not traditionally identified with lipolysis (e.g., preoptic area, subzona incerta of the lateral hypothalamus, periaqueductal gray, solitary nucleus). These data provide compelling neuroanatomical evidence that could underlie a direct central modulation of the sympathetic outflow to WAT by the melanocortins through the MC4-Rs resulting in changes in lipid mobilization and adiposity.


Endocrinology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 144 (8) ◽  
pp. 3547-3554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takayuki Masaki ◽  
Go Yoshimichi ◽  
Seiichi Chiba ◽  
Tohru Yasuda ◽  
Hitoshi Noguchi ◽  
...  

Abstract To examine the functional role of CRH in the regulation of energy homeostasis by leptin, we measured the effects of the CRH antagonist, α-helical CRH 8–41 (αCRH) on a number of factors affected by leptin activity. These included food intake, body weight, hypothalamic c-fos-like immunoreactivity (c-FLI), weight and histological characterization of white adipose tissue, and mRNA expressions of uncoupling protein (UCP) in brown adipose tissue (BAT) in C57Bl/6 mice. Central infusion of leptin into the lateral cerebroventricle (icv) caused significant induction of c-FLI in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH), dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus, and arcuate nucleus. In all these nuclei, the effect of leptin on expression of cFLI in the PVN and VMH was decreased by treatment with αCRH. Administration of leptin markedly decreased cumulative food intake and body weight with this effect being attenuated by pretreatment with αCRH. In peripheral tissue, leptin up-regulated BAT UCP1 mRNA expression and reduced fat depositions in this tissue. Those changes in BAT were also decreased by treatment with αCRH. As a consequence of the effects on food intake or energy expenditure, treatment with αCRH attenuated the leptin-induced reduction of body adiposity, fat cell size, triglyceride contents, and ob mRNA expression in white adipose tissue. Taken together, these results indicate that CRH neurons in the PVN and VMH may be an important mediator for leptin that contribute to regulation of feeding, adiposity, and UCP expression.


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