Cachexia is defined as the unintentional loss of body weight, particularly muscle mass, secondary to a chronic disease. Cachexia is prevalent with multiple cancer types and is a multi-organ and multi-factorial syndrome with a complex and largely unknown etiology. While the exact causal mechanism remains unknown, metabolic dysfunction and inflammation remain hallmarks of this wasting syndrome.

Given this, perturbations to the gastrointestinal tract may serve as the front line for both impaired nutrient absorption and immune-activating gut dysbiosis. Investigations into the gut microbiota have exploded within the past 2 decades, demonstrating multiple gut-tissue axes; however, the link between adipose and skeletal muscle wasting and the gut microbiota with cancer is only beginning to be understood.

Additionally, both cancer itself and the anti-cancer treatments hold the capacity to disturb the gut microbiota and negatively impact functional quality of life and survival. Currently, there appears to be very little consensus in the literature pertaining to gut dysbiosis across the cachexia spectrum; however, disruptions to the gastrointestinal track are evident with cachexia, independent of the location of the malignancy.

Citation:

VanderVeen, B. N., Cardaci, T. D., Bullard, B. M., Madden, M., Li, J., Velazquez, K. T., Kubinak, J. L., Fan, D., & Murphy, E. A. (2024). Involvement of the gut microbiota in cancer cachexia. American journal of physiology. Cell physiology, 10.1152/ajpcell.00327.2024. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpcell.00327.2024