Abstract B014: NF-kB Regulates Innate Immunity in the Muscle Microenvironment to Control Distinct States of Wasting in Pancreatic Cancer-Induced Cachexia

Abstract Cancer cachexia is a debilitating syndrome characterized by unintentional weight loss largely due to the depletion of adipose and skeletal muscle mass. Cachexia occurs in at least half of all patients with cancer, with increasing incidences in more advanced cases, and is estimated to be responsible for greater than 20% of all cancer related deaths. In pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which has a 5-year survival rate of 13%, the incidence of cachexia can be as high as 80% and is associated with poor disease outcomes. Mitigating the effects of cachexia has the potential to increase both quality of life and survival for patients with PDAC. However, there are currently no effective means of treating cachexia, thereby underscoring the need to further understand the pathology of this disease. Although cancer cachexia is classically characterized as a systemic inflammatory disorder, emerging evidence indicates that weight loss also associates with local tissue inflammation. We queried the regulation of this inflammation and its causality to cachexia by exploring skeletal muscle, whose atrophy strongly associates with poor outcomes. Using both a genetically engineered mouse model of PDAC- induced cachexia named KPP and patient samples, we show that cachectic muscle is marked by enhanced innate immunity. Accumulation of macrophages is regulated by an NF-kB activity that localizes to multiple cells within the muscle microenvironment. In addition, this accumulation of macrophages derives from an equal contribution of infiltrating monocytes and resident cells. Moreover, NF-kB activated cells and macrophages undergo a crosstalk; whereas NF-kB+ cells signal and recruit macrophages to inhibit muscle regeneration and promote atrophy, but interestingly at the same time can also protect myofibers, macrophages signal back to NF-kB+ cells to sustain an innate immune response in a feed-forward loop. Together, we propose that NF-kB functions in multiple cells in the muscle microenvironment to regulate innate immunity that both promotes and protects against muscle wasting in cancer. Citation Format: Denis C Guttridge, Benjamin R Pryce, Alexander Oles, Erin E Talbert, Katherine A Morgan, David A Mahvi, Michael C Ostrowski, Teresa A Zimmers, James G Tidball, David J Wang. NF-kB Regulates Innate Immunity in the Muscle Microenvironment to Control Distinct States of Wasting in Pancreatic Cancer-Induced Cachexia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research: Advances in Pancreatic Cancer Research; 2024 Sep 15-18; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(17 Suppl_2):Abstract nr B014.