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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
9
pubmed:dateCreated
2006-5-23
pubmed:abstractText
Numerous experimental and clinical studies have shown that skeletal muscle apoptotis may increase in wasting conditions and suggest that apoptosis might contribute to the loss of lean body mass. Data in cancer patients are still lacking. The present study aimed at verifying whether apoptosis was enhanced in the skeletal muscle of 16 patients with gastric cancer with respect to controls. A biopsy specimen was obtained from the rectus abdominis muscle. The occurrence of apoptosis in muscle biopsies was determined morphologically by the fluorescent transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling assay and by immunohistochemistry for caspase-3 and caspase-1. Mean weight loss was 6+/-2% in cancer patients and 0.5+/-0.1% in controls (p<0.0001). Serum albumin levels (g/dL) were 3.7+/-0.3 in cancer patients and 4.1+/-0.2 in controls (p<0.05). The percentage of apoptotic myonuclei was similar in cancer patients and in controls (1.5+/-0.3 versus 1.4+/-0.2, respectively; p=ns), in gastric cancer patients with mild (1.6+/-0.4) or moderate-severe weight loss (1.4+/-0.5) (p=ns), and in the different stages of disease (stages I-II: 1.5+/-0.7; stage III: 1.3+/-0.4; stage IV: 1.6+/-0.3; p=ns). By immunohistochemistry, caspase-1 and caspase-3 positive fibers were absent in controls and in neoplastic patients. Poly-ADP-ribosyl polymerase, a typical caspase-3 substrate whose processing is indicative of caspase-3 activation, was not cleaved in muscle biopsies of cancer patients. These data suggest that skeletal muscle apoptosis is not increased in neoplastic patients with mild-moderate weight loss and argue against the hypotheses that caspase-3 activation might be an essential step of myofibrillar proteolysis in cancer-related muscle wasting.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
1357-2725
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
38
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1561-70
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-10-3
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2006
pubmed:articleTitle
Skeletal muscle apoptosis is not increased in gastric cancer patients with mild-moderate weight loss.
pubmed:affiliation
Istituto di Clinica Chirurgica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Largo A.Gemelli, 8, 00168 Rome, Italy. maubosso@tin.it
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article