Abstract
BackgroundPatients with cancer often suffer from fatigue and decreased quality of life which might be related to the breakdown of essential amino acid tryptophan.MethodsIn 50 patients with lung cancer we examined fatigue and the deterioration of quality of life in patients using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Anemia (FACT-An) and -Fatigue (FACT-F) subscales of FACT-General and the Mental adjustment to Cancer (MAC) questionnaires. Results were compared with tryptophan breakdown as well as serum concentrations of immune activation markers.ResultsScores of psychological tests correlated significantly with tryptophan breakdown and with circulatory markers of inflammation. However, immune activation and tryptophan breakdown were not related to MAC scores.ConclusionsTryptophan breakdown relates with fatigue and impaired quality of life in patients with lung cancer, while declining tryptophan levels are not associated with patients'coping strategies.
Highlights
Patients with malignant disease often suffer from sustained fatigue and a reduced quality of life (QoL) [1,2,3]
We investigated whether coping strategies and physical performance of patients are related to tryptophan breakdown and immune activation
Eleven patients complained about moderate fatigue, while 14 patients reported about little (FACT-F scores 35–44) and 11 about no fatigue (FACT-F scores .45)
Summary
Patients with malignant disease often suffer from sustained fatigue and a reduced quality of life (QoL) [1,2,3]. Apart from cancer-related cachexia and tumor-related anemia, additional factors such as antitumor chemotherapy contribute to the development of neuropsychiatric complications and deterioration of quality of life (QoL) [4]. Neuropsychiatric symptoms comprise subtle cognitive changes, sleep disturbances, anxiety, and depression, which strongly affects patients’ QoL. Fatigue is the most commonly reported symptom in cancer patients and greatly affects their QoL [9]. Immune activation has been proposed to induce fatigue and depression in patients with cancer or other chronic diseases [17,18,19,20,21,22]. Patients with cancer often suffer from fatigue and decreased quality of life which might be related to the breakdown of essential amino acid tryptophan
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