title: Apoptosis is present in skeletal muscle of cachectic gastro-intestinal cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous studies of our research group have shown that apoptosis is present in skeletal muscle of tumour-bearing animals subject to cachexia. For this reason we decided to investigate the apoptosis in skeletal muscle of cancer patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the present study, muscle biopsies from weight-losing patients with upper gastro-intestinal cancer showed a significant increase in muscle DNA fragmentation (three-fold), as compared with control subjects. The increase in DNA laddering was associated with an increase in poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage (four-fold) as measured by western blotting. These two events indicate the presence of muscle apoptosis. These changes were associated with a decrease in MyoD protein content, suggesting important alterations in skeletal muscle physiology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results presented therefore confirm that apoptosis is also present in human subjects undergoing cancer cachexia.
authors: Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Sílvia
authors: S
authors: Busquets
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: Deans
authors: Maite
authors: M
authors: Figueras
authors: Rodrigo
authors: R
authors: Moore-Carrasco
authors: Francisco J
authors: FJ
authors: López-Soriano
authors: Kenneth C H
authors: KC
authors: Fearon
authors: Josep M
authors: JM
authors: Argilés
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017209:Apoptosis; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D002100:Cachexia / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D000068800:Etanercept; D005260:Female; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000378:metabolism; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D015850:Interleukin-6; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D000068800:Etanercept