人类癌症中的血浆色氨酸与厌食症

Plasma tryptophan and anorexia in human cancer.

作者信息

Rossi Fanelli F, Cangiano C, Ceci F, Cellerino R, Franchi F, Menichetti E T, Muscaritoli M, Cascino A

出版信息

Eur J Cancer Clin Oncol. 1986 Jan;22(1):89-95. doi: 10.1016/0277-5379(86)90346-9.

Abstract

A correlation between anorexia and brain levels of serotonin and tryptophan (TRP) has been reported in tumor-bearing animals. In the present investigation 45 patients with various types of cancer and 13 control subjects were studied. Prior to the study the patients had received no antineoplastic therapy and were unaware of the malignancy of their disease. Feeding behavior was investigated by means of a questionnaire in which the presence of anorexia (A), aversion to meat (MA), taste (TA) or smell (SA) alterations, nausea and/or vomiting (NV) and early satiety (ES) was assessed. Plasma levels of free TRP, the other neutral amino acids (NAA), albumin and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) were assayed. Plasma-free TRP was significantly increased in anorectic cancer patients. The free TRP/competing NAA ratio, which might better predict brain TRP levels, was significantly higher in patients with A, MA, TA, SA, NV and ES than in controls or in non-anorectic (NA) cancer patients. These findings seem to confirm that free TRP may play an important role in human cancer anorexia.

摘要

据报道，在患肿瘤动物中，厌食与大脑中血清素和色氨酸（TRP）水平之间存在相关性。在本研究中，对45例患有各种类型癌症的患者和13名对照受试者进行了研究。在研究之前，患者未接受过抗肿瘤治疗，并且不知道自己疾病的恶性程度。通过问卷调查来调查进食行为，问卷中评估了是否存在厌食（A）、对肉类的厌恶（MA）、味觉（TA）或嗅觉（SA）改变、恶心和/或呕吐（NV）以及早饱（ES）情况。测定了血浆中游离TRP、其他中性氨基酸（NAA）、白蛋白和非酯化脂肪酸（NEFA）的水平。厌食的癌症患者血浆游离TRP显著升高。游离TRP/竞争性NAA比值可能更能预测大脑TRP水平，在患有A、MA、TA、SA、NV和ES的患者中，该比值显著高于对照组或非厌食（NA）癌症患者。这些发现似乎证实了游离TRP可能在人类癌症厌食中起重要作用。