O3-003 - Plasma Level of Des-Acyl Ghrelin Predicts Digestive Symptoms in Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy for Advanced Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Ghrelin is a hormone produced mainly in the stomach and is responsible for stimulating appetite and attenuating mucosal damage caused by cytotoxic agents. Digestive symptoms such as appetite loss frequently occur in patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) who are undergoing chemotherapy and may be influenced by ghrelin. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of plasma ghrelin levels in digestive symptoms among patients with advanced PC. Methods Patients with treatment-naive advanced PC and no infectious conditions were eligible. All the patients were scheduled to undergo chemotherapy. Symptoms were rated numerically from 0 (not present) to 10 (as bad as you can imagine) using the Japanese version of the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory. Adverse events were evaluated according to the CTCAE, v3.0. The plasma des-acyl ghrelin (D-ghrelin) level was measured by N.M. and M.N. The measurements were carried out before chemotherapy and one month later. A two-tailed paired Student's t-test was used to compare repeated measurements. Results Eighty-seven patients (female/male: 40/47, median age: 65 years, Karnofsky performance status [KPS] of 100–90/80–70/60: 61/25/1, liver metastasis absent/present: 44/43) were studied. All the patients received chemotherapy (gemcitabine [GEM]/GEM-based/S-1: 47/24/16). The D-ghrelin level before chemotherapy (mean, 58.1 ± 5.4 fmol/ml) was lower than that observed 1 month later (mean, 68.0 ± 6.0 fmol/ml; P Conclusion A high plasma D-ghrelin level was related to a poor KPS and a worsening of nausea and vomiting in patients with advanced PC who received chemotherapy.