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Cachexia, or significant weight and muscle loss due to illness, is a common problem among pancreatic cancer patients, and the issue is much more complex than getting a patient to eat more.
Cancer cells take nutrients from a person’s body by hijacking the body’s normal signaling pathways and directing that fuel to its own benefit. In cancer-related cachexia, this nutrient theft eventually derails normal metabolic functions, causing the aggressive weight and muscle loss that makes a patient too ill to continue treatments.
“Eventually cachexia becomes a multi-organ disease, where you get lots of the parts of the body that fail,” said Andrea Galmozzi, PhD, a UW Carbone Cancer Center researcher who specializes in metabolic disorders. “That’s why over-nutrition doesn’t solve the problem, because you can’t absorb the right foods or the right amount of calories. You’re basically trying to mitigate the consequences, but you’re not treating the cause.”
Galmozzi and Adam Kuchnia, PhD, a UW Carbone researcher specializing in nutrition and muscle health, are working together to improve early diagnosis and develop targeted treatment to mitigate cachexia’s impacts and improve patient survivorship.
Their research is supported in part by money raised through the annual Roll & Stroll for Pancreas Cancer fundraiser, happening this year on August 10 at Capital Brewery in Middleton. This family-friendly event is organized by the Pancreas Cancer Task Force, a volunteer group of cancer survivors, caregivers and advocates who support new research as well as patient services at Carbone. View full details and register on the event website.
Kuchnia’s work focuses on identifying early biomarkers of muscle wasting associated with cachexia that can be seen through clinical imaging. While cachexia is a serious complication, not all patients will develop it, so Kuchnia is comparing imaging in both groups to find the diagnosable warning signs.
“I’m interested in what we can learn about those individuals who don’t have or are more resistant to cachexia, and what is different about those individuals,” Kuchnia said.
Early detection would improve treatment options and help patients maintain their strength to continue treatments. Right now, there is no FDA-approved treatment to cure cancer-related cachexia. Instead, treatments are focused on increasing patient appetite and eating high protein and high calorie foods.
Galmozzi is researching at a cellular level how tumors begin to take over these signaling pathways to develop precision treatments that interrupt this process. He said studies show that fat tissue, or adipose tissue, is commonly the first affected in cachexia because it is dense in nutrients.
“If you can act on those early signs, maybe you’re just touching on one signaling pathway and you can reduce the toxicity of that treatment (for patients),” Galmozzi said. “The earlier you can start on making the body stronger, the patient is physically capable to tolerate higher doses of anti-cancer therapies, and you can be more aggressive (with treatments).”
Their work is currently in early stages, and they appreciate the support and dedication of the Pancreas Cancer Task Force.
“They are willing to participate and support research at every turn, and that’s what we need,” Kuchnia said.