Addressing cancer anorexia-cachexia in older patients: potential therapeutic strategies and molecular pathways
Cancer cachexia (CC) syndrome, a feature of cancer-associated muscle wasting, is particularly pronounced in older patients, and is characterised by decreased energy intake and upregulated skeletal muscle catabolic pathways. To address CC, appetite stimulants, anabolic drugs, cytokine mediators, essential amino acid supplementation, nutritional counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy, and enteral nutrition have been utilised. However, pharmacological treatments that have also shown promising results, such as megestrol acetate, anamorelin, thalidomide, and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, have been associated with gastrointestinal and cardiovascular complications.
Source: Clinical Nutrition - Category: Nutrition Authors: Theocharis Ispoglou, Deaglan McCullough, Angela Windle, Sherena Nair, Natalie Cox, Helen White, Dermot Burke, Anastasios Kanatas, Konstantinos Prokopidis Tags: Narrative Review Source Type: research