Systemic inflammation impairs cardiac glucose uptake

Estrogen is involved in improvement of impaired cardiac glucose uptake in cancer patients

“…Cancer may be a specific stressor that impairs cardiac glucose uptake in a manner similar to inflammation, that is, through the activity of proinflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor, as previously reported in our study [1]. Impaired glucose utilization may cause inadequacies in cardiac glucose metabolism when the demand for glucose is abrupt, as in the case of pathological insults.…”

“…To overcome data variability as much as possible, examinations at our university hospital are routinely performed after patients have fasted for more than 12 h. To investigate the effects of cancer-related stress on cardiac glucose uptake, we examined PET scores of 78 female cancer patients (n = 78; age, 47 ± 12 years) with no past history of diabetes mellitus (DM). The PET score, developed for semi-quantitative assessment of cardiac glucose uptake in our previous study [1], was also used in the present study. These scores were assigned according to the level of FDG uptake, as follows: score 0, a faint FDG signal in the entire transverse section of the mid-portion of the left ventricle, which demonstrates a ring form; score 1, a signal with characteristics intermediate to those representing scores 0 and 2; and score 2, a homogeneous, intense signal throughout the ring.…”

“…In the previous study, we reported that systemic inflammation impairs cardiac glucose uptake, suggesting that in addition to psychological stress, inflammatory stress itself remarkably affects glucose utilization in cardiomyocytes. In that study, the number of patients with inflammation, who exhibited poor cardiac fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake, was significantly higher than that of healthy controls with poor FDG uptake [1]. These results supported the concept raised by Ansari [2] that the pathophysiology of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy may be more complicated than expected and that in addition to the speculated pathophysiological factors including coronary microvascular dysfunction and reduced coronary flow, another key factor may also be involved, namely the poor utilization of energy substrates (glucose) necessary for optimal cardiac performance [1,2].…”

“…In that study, the number of patients with inflammation, who exhibited poor cardiac fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake, was significantly higher than that of healthy controls with poor FDG uptake [1]. These results supported the concept raised by Ansari [2] that the pathophysiology of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy may be more complicated than expected and that in addition to the speculated pathophysiological factors including coronary microvascular dysfunction and reduced coronary flow, another key factor may also be involved, namely the poor utilization of energy substrates (glucose) necessary for optimal cardiac performance [1,2]. Inflammation and carcinogenesis are well-known major stressors in the human body and many substances including cytokines, which have been implicated in the development of cachexia, are found in the blood of cancer patients independent of cancer stage.…”