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NEW YORK, Mar 06 (Reuters Health) - Help may be on the way for patients suffering from the catastrophic weight loss associated with cancer and AIDS, as Oregon researchers zero in on the brain mechanism controlling this condition.
This wasting away, known as cachexia, is characterized by a severe loss of appetite coupled with an increased metabolism, which makes gaining or even maintaining weight difficult. The weakness and loss of muscle mass can make these patients, especially children and the elderly, extremely fragile and unable to tolerate or recover from aggressive forms of therapy aimed at curing their ailments.
Now, researchers working with mice have located a mechanism in the brain that appears to play a major role in cachexia. While the finding may potentially lead to therapies that help patients to bulk back up, more research is needed to confirm that the mechanism in mice is the same in humans.
The research, which was published in the February 15th issue of the journal Cancer Research, was led by Dr. Daniel Marks of the Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU).
The scientists targeted certain molecules found on the surface of brain cells, known as MC4 receptors. The receptors are located in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus.
"Previous research has shown that decreased activity in these nerve cells causes a person's metabolism to slow and their appetite to increase, causing weight gain," said study co-author Dr. Roger Cone in a statement issued by OSHU. "Right now, the MC4 receptor is one of the major targets of the pharmaceutical industry for the treatment of obesity. However, we hypothesized that if this group of nerve cells worked too well, the result for that animal would be the opposite--a higher metabolism and low appetite, or cachexia."
The group tested this hypothesis in a strain of mice bred to have inactive MC4 receptors, as well as in normal mice injected with a cachexia-inducing chemical. The investigators found the mice resisted weight loss due to cancer or infectious disease when an MC4-blocking substance was infused directly into the brain.
"Our data suggest that this system may play an integrative role in mediating the cachexia observed in human diseases such as cancer, heart failure, Alzheimer's disease and AIDS, thereby providing a common target for therapeutic intervention," the researchers conclude.
SOURCE: Cancer Research February 15, 2001.
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