The Adipokines in Cancer Cachexia

Abstract

<jats:p>Cachexia is a devastating pathology induced by several kinds of diseases, including cancer. The hallmark of cancer cachexia is an extended weight loss mainly due to skeletal muscle wasting and fat storage depletion from adipose tissue. The latter exerts key functions for the health of the whole organism, also through the secretion of several adipokines. These hormones induce a plethora of effects in target tissues, ranging from metabolic to differentiating ones. Conversely, the decrease of the circulating level of several adipokines positively correlates with insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. A lot of findings suggest that cancer cachexia is associated with changed secretion of adipokines by adipose tissue. In agreement, cachectic patients show often altered circulating levels of adipokines. This review reported the findings of adipokines (leptin, adiponectin, resistin, apelin, and visfatin) in cancer cachexia, highlighting that to study in-depth the involvement of these hormones in this pathology could lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies.</jats:p>

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Intersects With Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis and Development

“…In patients with T2DM, insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia often occur, accompanied by abundant adipocytes and a large amount of inflammatory cell infiltrating the pancreas tissue (54)(55)(56). The high glucose and fat diet may accelerate the inflammatory response by increasing oxidative stress and activating transcription factors, such as nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) and activator protein 1, which leads to the development of genomic aberration and carcinogenesis (57)(58)(59).…”

Adipose Tissue and Cancer Cachexia: What Nurses Need to Know

“…[ 32 ] Research suggests an association between altered adipose tissue secretion of adipokines and cachexia. [ 33 34 35 ]…”

“…A detailed examination of adipokines in cancer cachexia is beyond the scope of this paper and has been elegantly described elsewhere. [ 35 ] One of the more prominent adipokines, leptin, will be briefly mentioned here as it is representative of the kind of metabolic derangement that occurs in cachexia. Sometimes called the satiating hormone,[ 37 ] leptin has major receptors centrally in the hypothalamus and peripherally, in the liver, kidney, pancreas, lung, and skeletal muscle, and bone marrow.…”

Mitochondria at Work: New Insights into Regulation and Dysregulation of Cellular Energy Supply and Metabolism

“…GDNF family receptor alpha like-RET proto-oncogene (GDF15-GFRAL-RET) receptor antagonism is emerging as a therapeutic strategy for anorexia/cachexia syndromes [ 200 ]. Fat storage depletion from adipose tissue is facilitated by several adipokines [ 201 ], which are peptide hormones, such as asprosin [ 202 ], leptin [ 203 ], and intelectin-1 [ 204 ].…”