Molfino Alessio, Formiconi Alessandra, Rossi Fanelli Filippo, Muscaritoli Maurizio
Department of Clinical Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2014 Sep;17(5):471-6. doi: 10.1097/MCO.0000000000000075.
Despite the high prevalence of cancer cachexia, a condition that negatively impacts patients' prognosis and quality of life, effective therapies are still lacking. Ghrelin is a peptide hormone involved in anabolic and homeostatic functions, whose mechanisms of action are still only partially clarified, but with promising positive effects in cancer cachexia. Recently, the therapeutic administration of ghrelin in cancer has been shown to counteract loss of body mass and function, including muscle, and we specifically focus on this novel evidence.
Recent research aimed at developing new pharmacological therapies to prevent muscle wasting has used ghrelin and molecules acting as synthetic ghrelin receptor agonists with different modalities of administration and with high selectivity for specific targeted tissues. Positive effects of these therapies were described in cancer cachexia and chemotherapy-induced muscle wasting. New insights into the mechanisms of action of ghrelin revealed how its pleiotropic effects should be ascribed both to systemic anti-inflammation effect and to muscle-specific action through the activation of the antiatrophic molecular cascade.
Growing interest arises from the identification of ghrelin as a valid and well tolerated therapeutic option to counteract structural and functional wasting derived from tumour growth.
尽管癌症恶病质的患病率很高，这种情况会对患者的预后和生活质量产生负面影响，但仍然缺乏有效的治疗方法。胃饥饿素是一种参与合成代谢和体内平衡功能的肽类激素，其作用机制仍仅部分得到阐明，但在癌症恶病质中具有有前景的积极作用。最近，胃饥饿素在癌症中的治疗应用已被证明可对抗体重和功能的丧失，包括肌肉，我们特别关注这一新证据。
最近旨在开发预防肌肉萎缩的新药理学疗法的研究使用了胃饥饿素和作为合成胃饥饿素受体激动剂的分子，采用不同的给药方式，并对特定靶向组织具有高选择性。这些疗法在癌症恶病质和化疗引起的肌肉萎缩中显示出积极作用。对胃饥饿素作用机制的新见解揭示了其多效性作用应如何归因于全身抗炎作用和通过激活抗萎缩分子级联反应的肌肉特异性作用。
越来越多的人关注将胃饥饿素鉴定为一种有效且耐受性良好的治疗选择，以对抗肿瘤生长引起的结构和功能消耗。
