title: Reversal of cancer cachexia and muscle wasting by ActRIIB antagonism leads to prolonged survival.
abstract: Muscle wasting and cachexia have long been postulated to be key determinants of cancer-related death, but there has been no direct experimental evidence to substantiate this hypothesis. Here, we show that in several cancer cachexia models, pharmacological blockade of ActRIIB pathway not only prevents further muscle wasting but also completely reverses prior loss of skeletal muscle and cancer-induced cardiac atrophy. This treatment dramatically prolongs survival, even of animals in which tumor growth is not inhibited and fat loss and production of proinflammatory cytokines are not reduced. ActRIIB pathway blockade abolished the activation of the ubiquitin-proteasome system and the induction of atrophy-specific ubiquitin ligases in muscles and also markedly stimulated muscle stem cell growth. These findings establish a crucial link between activation of the ActRIIB pathway and the development of cancer cachexia. Thus ActRIIB antagonism is a promising new approach for treating cancer cachexia, whose inhibition per se prolongs survival.
authors: Departments of Metabolic Disorders and Protein Science, Amgen Research, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA.
authors: Xiaolan
authors: X
authors: Zhou
authors: Jin Lin
authors: JL
authors: Wang
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Lu
authors: Yanping
authors: Y
authors: Song
authors: Keith S
authors: KS
authors: Kwak
authors: Qingsheng
authors: Q
authors: Jiao
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Rosenfeld
authors: Qing
authors: Q
authors: Chen
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Boone
authors: W Scott
authors: WS
authors: Simonet
authors: David L
authors: DL
authors: Lacey
authors: Alfred L
authors: AL
authors: Goldberg
authors: H Q
authors: HQ
authors: Han
mesh_terms: D030301:Activin Receptors, Type II / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000235:genetics; D028341:Activins / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000855:Anorexia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D001284:Atrophy / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D002100:Cachexia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007265:Inhibins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D053583:Interleukin-1beta / Q000378:metabolism; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000473:pathology; D009133:Muscular Atrophy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D032446:Myoblasts / Q000473:pathology; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D053583:Interleukin-1beta; D015850:Interleukin-6; D009124:Muscle Proteins; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D028341:Activins; D007265:Inhibins; D030301:Activin Receptors, Type II; C425584:activin receptor type II-B