Cachexia is a wasting syndrome associated with elevated basal energy expenditure and loss of adipose and muscle tissues. It accompanies many chronic diseases including renal failure and cancer and is an important risk factor for mortality. Our recent work demonstrated that tumor-derived PTHrP drives adipose tissue browning and cachexia. Here, we show that PTH is involved in stimulating a thermo...

INTRODUCTION Cancer cachexia affects many advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Cachexia index (CXI) was developed to assess the degree of cachexia in these patients. METHODS Patients with metastatic NSCLC diagnosed between January 1, 2000, and June 30, 2011, at our institution were retrospectively studied. Abdominal computed tomography scans done within 1 month of diagnosis w...

BACKGROUND Cancer cachexia has impact on patients and their family members. Patients experience loss of weight often accompanied by anorexia and other debilitating symptoms that have clinical impact and impact everyday life. The importance of understanding this impact lies in (1) the alleviation of cachexia-related suffering and (2) its implications for treating cachexia. REVIEW Two decades o...

A striking discrepancy exists in the number of publications on obesity as compared to cachexia or wasting disorders. In PubMed, the number of entries that contain "cachexia" as a title word is only 1,825, whereas the number of entries for "obesity" in the title is 47,828, giving a ratio of 1:26 in favor of "obesity" publications. The difference in publication activities in these two fields has ...

Cachexia in cancer patients is a condition marked by severe tissue wasting and a myriad of quality of life and health consequences. Cachexia is also directly linked to the issues of morbidity and survivability in cancer patients. Therapeutic means of mitigating cachexia and its effects are thus critical in cancer patient treatment. We present a discussion on the use of physical exercise activit...

BACKGROUND The awareness of cardiac cachexia, i.e. involuntary weight loss in patients with underlying cardiovascular disease, has increased over the last two decades. METHODS AND RESULTS This mini-review looks at recent research in the cardiovascular literature that is relevant to the areas of interest of the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle. It identifies significant research in t...

OBJECTIVE To characterize the frequency, cost, and hospital-reported outcomes of cachexia and debility in children and adolescents with complex chronic conditions (CCCs). METHODS We identified children and adolescents (aged ≤20 years) with CCCs, cachexia, and debility in the Kids' Inpatient Database [Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality]. We then c...

Cachexia is a serious clinical consequence of almost all chronic diseases when reaching advanced stages. Its prevalence ranges from 5-15% in end-stage chronic heart failure to 50-80% in advanced malignant cancer. Cachexia is also frequently occurring in patients with chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or neurological diseases, and rheumatoid arthritis. Mortalit...

Over the last decade, we have gained new insight into the pathophysiology of cachexia associated with pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, its treatment is complex and remains a challenge. Pancreatic cancer cachexia is a multifactorial syndrome characterized by uncompensated adipose tissue and skeletal muscle loss in the setting of anorexia that leads to progressive functional impairment. This pap...

Cancer, being in fact a generalized disease involving the whole organism, is most frequently associated with metabolic deregulation, a latent inflammatory state and anorexia of various degrees. The pathogenesis of this disorder is complex, with multiple dilemmas remaining unsolved. The clinical consequences of the above-mentioned disturbances include cancer-related cachexia and anorexia-cachexi...