1. Altered Plasma Fatty Acid Abundance Is Associated with Cachexia in Treatment-Naïve Pancreatic Cancer
- Author
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Kristyn Gumpper-Fedus, Phil A. Hart, Martha A. Belury, Olivia Crowe, Rachel M. Cole, Valentina Pita Grisanti, Niharika Badi, Sophia Liva, Alice Hinton, Christopher Coss, Mitchell L. Ramsey, Anne Noonan, Darwin L. Conwell, and Zobeida Cruz-Monserrate
- Subjects
Pancreatic Neoplasms ,Cachexia ,Linoleic Acids ,digestive, oral, and skin physiology ,Fatty Acids ,Humans ,General Medicine ,Adenocarcinoma ,musculoskeletal system ,pancreatic cancer ,fatty acids ,sarcopenia ,diabetes ,hemoglobin ,albumin ,oleic acid ,linoleic acid ,Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal ,Oleic Acid - Abstract
Cachexia occurs in up to 80% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients and is characterized by unintentional weight loss and tissue wasting. To understand the metabolic changes that occur in PDAC-associated cachexia, we compared the abundance of plasma fatty acids (FAs), measured by gas chromatography, of subjects with treatment-naïve metastatic PDAC with or without cachexia, defined as a loss of > 2% weight and evidence of sarcopenia (n = 43). The abundance of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated FAs was not different between subjects with cachexia and those without. Oleic acid was significantly higher in subjects with cachexia (p = 0.0007) and diabetes (p = 0.015). Lauric (r = 0.592, p = 0.0096) and eicosapentaenoic (r = 0.564, p = 0.015) acids were positively correlated with age in cachexia patients. Subjects with diabetes (p = 0.021) or both diabetes and cachexia (p = 0.092) had low palmitic:oleic acid ratios. Linoleic acid was lower in subjects with diabetes (p = 0.018) and correlated with hemoglobin (r = 0.519, p = 0.033) and albumin (r = 0.577, p = 0.015) in subjects with cachexia. Oleic or linoleic acid may be useful treatment targets or biomarkers of cachexia in patients with metastatic PDAC, particularly those with diabetes.
- Published
- 2022