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Pay attention to cardiac remodeling in cancer cachexia

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Abstract

Cancer cachexia is a complex and multifaceted disease state characterized by fatigue, weakness, and loss of skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. Recently, the profound negative effects of cancer cachexia on cardiac tissue draw much attention, which is likely to contribute to mortality in tumor-bearing animals. The mechanism of cardiac remodeling is not so clear and involved with a series of molecular alterations. In cancer cachexia model, progressive loss of left ventricular mass and decrease in myocardial function is observed and cardiac autonomic functions are altered. Levels of several emerging cardiovascular neurohormones are found elevating in patients with cancer, but it is still controversial whether the changes could reflect the heart injury accurately. The remedy for cardiac remodeling has been explored. It is showed that exercise can modulate signaling pathways activated by wasting cytokines and impact on the resulting outcomes on heart adaptation. Some drugs, such as bisoprolol, spironolactone, perindopril, tandospirone, and simvastatin, can mitigate adverse effects of the tumor on the heart and prolong survival.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology, Jinan Central Hospital, Shandong University, No. 105, Jie Fang Road, Jinan, Shandong, 250013, People’s Republic of China

    Yawen Zheng & Yuping Sun

  2. Soochow University College of Medicine, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215000, China

    Han Chen

  3. Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310029, China

    Xiaoqing Li

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  1. Yawen Zheng
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  2. Han Chen
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  3. Xiaoqing Li
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  4. Yuping Sun
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Correspondence to Yuping Sun.

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Zheng, Y., Chen, H., Li, X. et al. Pay attention to cardiac remodeling in cancer cachexia. Support Care Cancer 24, 3253–3259 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3222-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3222-2

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