title: Cancer cachexia and protein metabolism.
abstract: Metabolic abnormalities arising from malnutrition and malignancy are seen in patients with cancer cachexia. To discriminate between the effects of pure malnutrition and tumour-specific metabolic alterations, the kinetics of whole-body metabolism were determined in 7 untreated, malnourished cancer patients and in 11 patients with benign disease, also malnourished, by means of primed constant infusion of 15N-glycine. Patients in both groups received 500 kcal/day as 5% glucose solution without any nitrogen. Whole-body protein turnover was 32% and 35% higher in the cancer patients than in the non-cancer patients and starved normal subjects respectively. Similarly, the rate of protein synthesis was 35% and 54% higher in the cancer patients than in the non-cancer patients and starved normal subjects respectively. Our study supports the view that aberrations of host metabolism in patients with cancer cachexia are different from those in non-cancer patients suffering equivalent weight loss.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001835:Body Weight; D002100:Cachexia / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000378:metabolism; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D013217:Starvation / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D009584:Nitrogen