Myokines as Possible Therapeutic Targets in Cancer Cachexia.

Emilia Manole,Alexandra E Bastian,Laura C Ceafalan,Carmen Dumitru,Bogdan O Popescu

doi:10.1155/2018/8260742

Abstract

Cachexia is an extremely serious syndrome which occurs in most patients with different cancers, and it is characterized by systemic inflammation, a negative protein and energy balance, and involuntary loss of body mass. This syndrome has a dramatic impact on the patient's quality of life, and it is also associated with a low response to chemotherapy leading to a decrease in survival. Despite this, cachexia is still underestimated and often untreated. New research is needed in this area to understand this complex phenomenon and ultimately find treatment methods and therapeutic targets. The skeletal muscle can act as an endocrine organ. Signaling between muscles and other systems is done through myokines, cytokines, and proteins produced and released by myocytes. In this review, we would like to draw attention to some of the most important myokines that could have potential as biomarkers and therapeutic targets: myostatin, irisin, myonectin, decorin, fibroblast growth factor 21, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and interleukin-15.

Highlights

Cachexia is an extremely serious syndrome manifested by anorexia, weight loss through loss of muscle mass and fatty tissue, inflammation, and increased energy consumption that occurs in many chronic diseases, of which cancer occupies a special place (80% of patients with cancers develop cachexia) [1]
A continuous muscle contraction with a moderate intensity induces a higher concentration of myokines than a shorter muscular contraction but with a high intensity [82]. This fact, correlated with the promotion of angiogenesis, could be a starting point for studies on IL-8 produced in muscular tissue as a therapeutic target in cancer cachexia and may be a key point in reducing muscle mass loss or in rebuilding skeletal muscle along with other factors
We cannot draw conclusions about the place and role of myokines in cancer cachexia therapy without reminding the complex pathophysiology they are involved in and the fact that there are many signaling pathways in this syndrome that interfere and interrelate. One of these important interactions is between skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, between myokines, adipokines, and free fatty acids, as we have shown

Summary

Introduction

Cachexia is an extremely serious syndrome manifested by anorexia, weight loss through loss of muscle mass and fatty tissue, inflammation, and increased energy consumption that occurs in many chronic diseases, of which cancer occupies a special place (80% of patients with cancers develop cachexia) [1]. Cachexia occurs in most patients with terminal cancer and is responsible for death of approximately 22% of patients [2] It is characterized by systemic inflammation, a negative protein and energy balance, and involuntary loss of body mass. This syndrome has a dramatic impact on the patient’s quality of life, and it is associated with a low response to chemotherapy and leads to a decrease in survival [3,4,5]. The current strategy focuses on treating cancer, with the hope that it will completely reverse cachexia syndrome This is not valid in advanced cancers. We will refer to myokines, one of the components of this complex mechanism that leads to the appearance of muscle weakness and muscle mass loss in cancer, that have an important potential to become therapeutic targets

What Are Myokines

Findings

Conclusions