Oxytocin (OT), classically known for its effects on uterus, lactation, CNS, is also a powerful regulator of myogenic differentiation and muscular homeostasis (Minotti 1998, Breton 2002, Moresi 2009, Berio 2017). In culture, the addition of OT stimulates differentiation of myogenic precursors and induces myotube hypertrophy. Skeletal muscle expresses OT and OT receptors (OT-R) in basal conditions and in response to treatments with anabolic steroids, such as estradiol (Berio 2017).
In sarcopenia (senile muscular atrophy), the OT-R in muscle and the level of the circulating peptide are reduced (Elabd et al. 2014). Exogenous OT antagonizes sarcopenia and restores the trophism of muscle.
Neoplastic cachexia has a strong negative prognostic significance in cancer patients, in whom it is associated with a reduction in quality of life and response to therapies.
Therefore, we propose to study whether, as in sarcopenia, the administration of OT restores the atrophying skeletal musculature in cancer-cachexia.
This study aims to assess whether it is possible to use OT in the treatment of neoplastic cachexia, obtaining results such as the reduction of muscular atrophy, with the aim of improving the quality of life and the response to patients' anticancer therapies. An important advantage of the proposed approach is that the OT is a physiological product and its use in human therapy is already authorised.