Advancing the Understanding and Treatment of Cancer Cachexia: Mechanisms, Therapeutic Approaches, and Future Opportunities

Xinyi Li,1,* Tianzhao Xu,2,* Lanmei Zhou,1 Guangli Li,3 Yiwen Yuan,3 Hui Song,4 Chang Liu,4 Xinghui Liu4 1School of Gongli Hospital Medical Technology, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Central Laboratory, Zhoupu Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Medicine and Health, Shanghai, 201318, People’s Republic of China; 3Postgraduate Training Base at Shanghai Gongli Hospital, Ningxia Medical University, Shanghai, 200135, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Clinical Laboratory, Gongli Hospital of Shanghai Pudong New Area, Shanghai, 200135, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xinghui Liu, Email [email protected]; Chang Liu, Email [email protected]: Cancer cachexia (CC) is a prevalent metabolic disorder in patients with advanced cancer, characterized by persistent skeletal muscle mass loss and irreversible body weight reduction, which significantly diminishes quality of living, therapeutic effectiveness. At present, the specific pathogenesis of CC is only defined as skeletal muscle loss induced by signaling pathways. In the clinical treatment of tumor cachexia, it has been clearly defined that there are multiple methods available for treating this disease, including nutritional therapy and exercise, but all of them have very little therapeutic effect. Surprisingly, traditional Chinese medicine has achieved initial success in treating malignant tumors, and the combined treatment of traditional Chinese and Western medicine has yielded remarkable results. Therefore, it is an urgent need to elucidate the more specific pathogenesis of CC to develop effective treatment approaches, which enhance patients’ nutritional health status as well as their overall quality of life and survival ratings. This article aims to review the pathogenesis of CC along with clinical treatment strategies and drug utilization.Keywords: cancer, cachexia, mechanism, treatment, nutrition, Traditional Chinese medicine