A common denominator of inflammations and fatty liver

Many cancer patients lose a lot of weight during their disease: Fat and muscle mass are reduced, free fatty acids accumulate in the liver, and this eventually leads to fatty liver in affected patients. What is called tumor cachexia appears to be caused by signals emitted by the tumor itself. Despite vigorous searching, scientists have not yet been able to identify these “degradation signals” of tumors. Therefore, a research team at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, decided to take the opposite approach: Instead of searching for “hunger signals” in the tumor, they investigated the other end of the signaling chain: liver cells of mice affected by cancer. In the process, they discovered a molecular marker which controls both metabolic processes and inflammatory responses.

In advanced stages of cancer, particularly in pancreatic and lung cancers, patients frequently suffer from a wasting syndrome known as cancer cachexia. Affected patients grow very thin and weak, often there is a danger of organ failure. Body fat, in particular, is reduced and its accumulatation in the liver leads to fatty liver. This process seems to be caused by signals from the tumor itself, which radically direct metabolic processes in the body towards degradation and cause a state of chronic inflammation in the body. Despite intensive efforts to identify these signals, they remain unknown.