Myosteatosis and muscle wasting in pancreatic cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Myosteatosis and muscle wasting in pancreatic cancer: murderer, mediator or mirror?
IRAS ID
130747
Contact name
Dileep N Lobo
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Research summary
Virtually all patients with pancreatic cancer develop weight loss and this can progress to significant muscle wasting (cachexia). Such cachexia is associated with reduced treatment tolerance, quality of life and survival. At the same time, more than a third of pancreatic cancer patients are either overweight/obese or have clinical/sub-clinical diabetes. Obesity can mask the development of muscle wasting and, in theory (see below), may even act along with diabetes to accelerate loss of skeletal muscle. At present there is no approved treatment for the management of cancer cachexia. Cachexia is mediated, in part, by systemic inflammation which drives a variety of metabolic changes including mobilisation of fat reserves and impaired control of blood glucose. Both of these metabolic changes may lead to the abnormal accumulation of fat in skeletal muscle. Fatty muscle (myosteatosis) is
a feature of obesity, diabetes and cancer cachexia and has recently been associated with markedly shortened survival in cancer patients. However, it is not known whether in patients with pancreatic cancer, the accumulation of fat in muscle plays a primary role in muscle wasting or is simply a bystander. The present project seeks to explore this relationship by determining whether there is an association between fatty muscle and one of the main mechanisms of wasting in muscle (reduced
skeletal muscle protein synthesis). If there is a clear association, this would provide evidence to develop myosteatosis and its associated mechanisms as a stratification marker/novel therapeutic target for cancer cachexia.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/EM/0222
Date of REC Opinion
21 Jun 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion