Ayman Aboda
Deakin University, Australia
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Oncol Cancer Case Rep
Background: Cachexia is the main cause of death in cancer patients. There is an urgent need for validated biomarkers that could help in the early diagnosis at the pre-cachexia stage before sever loss of subcutaneous fat and skeletal muscle occur. It is currently not possible to conclude firmly on a specific biomarker of cancer cachexia however, C-reactive protein (CRP) and/ or Interleukin-6 (IL-6) are emerging as potential candidates of diagnosis, especially after the development of anti-IL-6 antibodies for the treatment for cachexia. Method/Design: The proposed study will be a case control study, with one cachexia patient (n=107) per two controls (n=214). The primary aim of this study is to compare circulating levels of IL-6 and CRP in patients with cancer cachexia and patients with the same cancer type that do not have cachexia. The secondary aim is to determine if IL-6 and/ or CRP could be used as a predictive biomarker for the likely onset of cancer cachexia. Discussion : The drive to discover a therapy to combat cancer cachexia has become paramount, given that current strategies are generally without effect in patients with cancers that present with cachexia. Finding a cure for cachexia will impact cancer patients� worldwide, improving quality of life and potentially increasing survival in response to standard care. Achieving this goal will depend on our ability for better diagnose cachexia in cancer patients, to increase our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie wasting of adipose and muscle tissues, to identify and translate therapeutic targets to the clinic. This will standardize outcome measures to facilitate and accelerate clinical trials for improved benefit in cancer patients and their palliative care. Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry under the code (ACTRN12615000193572).Human Ethics approval was granted from Cairo University, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University and exemption from ethics review was granted from Deakin University, Australia
Email: ayman.aboda@deakin.edu.au