London: Scientists believe they are closer to understanding what causes patients to suddenly and alarmingly lose weight during late-stage cancer.
Researchers in the UK have discovered a gene called GDF 15 that is associated with cachexia. It is a complex process in which 80 percent of patients in the last stages of cancer lose appetite, fat, and muscle all at once. This process is thought to be the main cause of death in 20 to 30 percent of patients.
According to the researchers, the results of the TRACERx study, published in Nature Medicine, may help diagnose the condition before symptoms appear.
Dr Maryam Jamal-Hanjani, clinical associate professor at University College London’s Cancer Institute and lead author of the study, said the biological understanding of this dangerous condition had long been hidden from researchers, but the huge investment in TRACERx research, The samples to be obtained and the data to be collected led to discoveries related to Caucasians.
“Researchers are now interested in finding changes in cancer or blood that could help us in the future identify the risk of cachexia in patients so that we can intervene before it happens,” he said. can go.
Diagnosing this condition can also be difficult because there is no screening tool that is effective in identifying cachexia.
In the next phase of research, researchers will investigate how cancer metabolism and the immune system may play a role in cachexia.
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