Cancer-associated cachexia is a complex metabolic syndrome characterized by weight loss and systemic inflammation. Muscle loss and fatty infiltration into muscle are associated with poor prognosis in cancer patients. Skeletal muscle secretes myokines, factors with autocrine, paracrine and/or endocrine action, which may be modified by or play a role in cachexia.
Introduction: Cachexia is frequent in chronic diseases and especially during cancer development. Multiple definitions of cachexia have been proposed; it may be considered a multifactorial complex syndrome that presents with progressive unintentional weight loss and wasting of muscle mass and adipose tissue. Area covered: This article covers phase-I and phase-II clinical trials of investigational drugs for cancer cachexia. We performed a search on PubMed with keywords as cancer cachexia, phase-I/phase-II trial, drug, identifying articles relevant to this review.
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