Background. Interleukin (IL)-8 has been implicated in the development of cancer cachexia. The polymorphism of IL-8 gene, which may affect the production level of IL-8, may be associated with cancer cachexia. Methods. The serum IL-8 level in our study was examined by radioimmunoassay. We also analyzed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) -251 A/T and +781 C/T of IL-8 gene, using polymerase cha...

Despite more than 30 years of clinical trials, the cure rate for pancreatic cancer remains less than 5% and the yearly incidence rate of this tumor virtually overlaps the mortality rate [1]. Only a small portion of patients presents potentially resectable disease but even for the patients undergoing a “curative” pancreaticoduodenectomy, the five-year survival rate remains very poor. Close to 10...

Background. Cachexia-anorexia syndrome is a common and important indicator of cancer. It occurs in 30% to 80% of cancer patients. Cachexia means “bad condition” and may be present in the early stages of tumor growth, before any signs of malignancy. Cancer cachexia is a syndrome of progressive body wasting, characterized by loss of adipose tissue and skeletal muscle mass. In most cancer patients...

The field of cachexia and muscle wasting research has started to move, slowly but steadily, and large and small companies alike are increasing their efforts into the development of new drug therapies for cachexia, sarcopenia and frailty. Recent research has focused on novel screening tools and biomarker research to enable an early diagnosis of wasting, but also on the pathophysiological underst...

It is now well recognized that a physiological anorexia of aging occurs that is associated with gradual weight loss in older persons [1, 2]. A number of epidemiological studies have shown that weight loss in older persons leads to death (fig. 1) [3–6]. In addition, weight loss has been shown to be associated with hip fracture [7]. When an older person develops a disease, the disease interacts w...

BACKGROUND Osteoporosis is a well-known complication of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). However, data about body composition modifications and muscle performance showed conflicting results. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of pre-sarcopenia, sarcopenia and cachexia in patients with AS and analyze its relationship with bone loss and symptomatic and severity para...

OBJECTIVES Cachexia, defined as an accelerated loss of skeletal muscle in the context of a chronic inflammatory response, is common in rheumatoid arthritis but it has not been demonstrated in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). The aim of this study was to determine muscle wasting and its functional consequences in a group of patients with well-established AS. METHODS Nineteen male pat...

Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) commonly present both anorexia (defined as reduced apetite) and a catabolic state leading to loss of protein from skeletal muscle and other tissues. Additionally, these patients carry an inflammatory burden, which may play a pivotal role in the evolution of not only the observed cachexia, but also in the massive increase in relative risk of cardiovas...

Nucleotide sequences were determined for two hop stunt viroid-related Group II citrus viroids characterized as either a cachexia disease non-pathogenic variant (CVd-IIa) or a pathogenic variant (CVd-IIb). Sequence identity between the two variants of 95.6% indicated a conserved genome with the principal region of nucleotide difference clustered in the variable (V) domain. Full-length viroid RT-...