Abstracts of the 3rd International Conference on Cancer Cachexia, September 23–25, 2016 in Washington, DC, USA

s of the 3rd International Conference on Cancer Cachexia, September 23–25, 2016 in Washington, DC, USA The 3rd International Conference on Cancer Cachexia titled, “Advancing Molecular Mechanisms and Therapies” took place on September 23–25, 2016, in Washington, DC. This meeting followed the 1st conference in 2012 in Boston, USA, and the 2nd in 2014 in Montreal, Canada. The goal for the 3rd meeting was to continue to advance our understanding of the basis of cancer-induced cachexia by discussing new topics and unpublished data. In addition, we placed greater emphasis in this meeting on therapies and the education of clinical trial design and outcome measures. The meeting included new sessions to discuss cross-talk pathways between tissues, new animal models of cancer cachexia, and interpretations of large data sets. In addition, the meeting incorporated a half-day session on the design of cancer cachexia clinical trials, an event that was well attended and led to engaging conversations among attendees. Highlights from the conference included our Keynote Speaker, Dr Vickie Baracos from the University of Alberta, a presentation from a patient advocate, Mr David Kochanczyk, and a special lecture from Dr Douglas Lowy, Director of the National Cancer Institute, USA. We also presented our personal reflections to remember our close colleague, Dr Ken Fearon who truly was a maverick in the field. Below represent some of the abstracts presented at the conference supporting both oral and poster presentations. We sincerely thank the editors of the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle (JCSM) for allowing the submission and publications of these abstracts. 2016 Cancer Cachexia Conference Planning Committee Denis C. Guttridge, PhD The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA