title: The role of cytokines in cancer cachexia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present investigation is devoted to uncovering the different signaling pathways - particularly transcriptional factors - involved in muscle wasting.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although the search for the cachectic factor(s) started a long time ago, and although many scientific and economic efforts have been devoted to its discovery, we are still a long way from knowing the whole truth. In this review we describe recent findings about the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-6, TWEAK and myostatin actions in cancer cachexia models.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The main aim of the present review is to summarize and evaluate the different molecular mechanisms and catabolic mediators (mainly cytokines) involved in cancer cachexia since they may represent targets for future promising clinical investigations.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Group, Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 645, Barcelona 08028, Spain. jargiles@ub.edu
authors.forename: Josep M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Argilés
authors.forename: Sílvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Busquets
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Toledo
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: López-Soriano
mesh_terms: D002100:Cachexia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000503:physiopathology; D008660:Metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D014157:Transcription Factors