A new study revealed a possible cause that may solve the mystery of wasting syndrome that causes a severe and dangerous loss of muscle mass in the bodies of cancer patients, proposing a solution to treat this disease, according to what the newspaper reported.The Guardian“.
One of the most dangerous effects of cancer is the sudden loss of weight, appetite and muscle, which can affect some patients in later stages of the disease.
This wasting syndrome is known as cachexia, and it can occur in other serious conditions, including heart disease and HIV.
In addition, an inherited version of severe wasting syndrome, known as Cockayne syndrome, can affect children, causing severe malnutrition and wasting that parallels the effect of cachexia.
Charlie Swanton, professor of oncology at Crick Institute in London, says: “In the case of cancer patients, individuals can go from being completely normal, to being wheelchair-bound with muscle wasting and losing weight in just a few months. It is very scary.”
Despite the great scientific effort, the causes of wasting syndrome have remained a mystery to clinicians.
Cancer Research UK chief executive, Michelle Mitchell, says: “Wasting is more than just loss of appetite and weight loss. It’s a complex problem that has a tremendous impact on people with cancer, harming their health and reducing their energy at a time when they need it most.”
But the latest research, conducted by British researchers, raised hopes of approaching some of the causes of this disease.
A team of scientists led by the director of the Wetheral Institute for Molecular Medicine in Oxford, Ketan Patel, recently linked the disease to DNA damage that disrupts chemical messengers that are sent to the brain, causing the release of appetite-suppressing hormones, and the result is severe weight loss.
The researchers found that this process often begins when the naturally occurring chemical formaldehyde builds up in a person’s bloodstream. When this is filtered out by the kidneys, their cells suffer DNA damage in the process. This, in turn, causes the kidneys to secrete a hormone that directs the brain to suppress appetite.
“When you undergo chemotherapy, you are given a chemical that attacks DNA in the same way that formaldehyde attacks,” Patel explains. “This may damage the DNA and release these signals that tell the brain to suppress appetite.”
The research also points to a possible way to address the problem.
The research says that “the transmitter that the kidneys send to the brain is a chemical called “GDF15”, a discovery that carries important clinical implications.
According to the research, we may be able to treat weight loss in patients undergoing chemotherapy for cancer and children with Cockayne syndrome by giving an antibody that neutralizes this chemical, GDF15.
“We may then be able to block these messages and stop their cache from appearing,” says Patel.
Although Charlie Swanton, professor of oncology at the Crick Institute in London, believes that this study’s finding is “fantastic and important”, he emphasizes that scientists need to do more work to urgently understand other methods and causes, “because we know that this syndrome It contributes to our inability to treat patients when they become weaker.”
