Chemotherapy-induced
cachexia has been a significant challenge to the successful treatment of
cancer patients.
Chemotherapy leads to loss of muscle, loss of appetite, and excessive
weight loss, which makes these necessary treatments intolerable for most patients. Therefore, it is necessary to alleviate
cachexia to successfully treat
cancer patients. In this study,
tumor-implanted mouse models administered
cisplatin showed rapid
weight loss and reduced feeding rate by the second week of treatment, and
1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-3-acetyl-rac-glycerol (PLAG) effectively alleviated
cisplatin-induced
cachexia. In mice treated with
cisplatin on a sacrificial day after 6 weeks, the weight of the two major leg muscles (quadriceps femoris and gastrocnemius) were reduced by up to 70%, but this muscle reduction was successfully prevented in the PLAG co-treatment group. The distribution and size of muscle fibers that appear in small units in
cisplatin-treated mice were restored to normal levels by PLAG co-treatment. Furthermore,
myostatin expression levels were upregulated by
cisplatin, whereas
myostatin decreased to normal levels with muscle recovery in the PLAG co-treated group.
Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and
interleukin-6 (IL-6), which are commonly expressed in
cachexia, were significantly increased in
cisplatin-treated mice but were reduced to normal levels in PLAG co-treated mice.
Glucose absorption, an
indicator of muscle tissue activity, decreased with
cisplatin treatment and recovered to normal levels with PLAG co-treatment. Overall, PLAG effectively alleviated
cisplatin-induced
cachexia symptoms and reduced
tumor growth in
tumor-implanted mice. These findings suggest PLAG may be a promising drug to alleviate
cachexia in
cancer patients receiving
chemotherapy.