2nd Cancer Cachexia Conference: Evolving Mechanisms and Therapies

描述(申请人提供)：恶病质是一种与慢性疾病密切相关的消耗性疾病，包括但不限于癌症、艾滋病、慢性阻塞性肺疾病、心脏和肾功能衰竭、糖尿病和炎症性肠道疾病。该综合征的特征是严重的体重减轻，主要是由于骨骼肌的崩溃。据估计，恶病质是所有癌症死亡的30%-50%的直接原因。这些患者经常死于呼吸肌和心脏功能受损。癌症恶病质的患病率随肿瘤类型的不同而不同，但在确诊时胃肠道、胰腺和晚期肺部的发病率最高。此外，与饥饿或缺乏运动导致的肌肉萎缩不同，恶病质患者肌肉完整性的崩溃不能通过简单地增加卡路里摄入量来预防或逆转。由于这种综合征没有有效的治疗方法，癌症恶病质一直(现在仍然是)被视为晚期恶性肿瘤患者的一种临终状态，主要可以通过姑息治疗方法进行治疗。这些和其他观察结果强调了确定新方法的重要性，以设计有效的战略来抗击这一致命综合症。过去几年的进展清楚地表明，癌症恶病质是通过其他疾病不会激活的分子途径触发的。此外，致力于癌症恶病质研究的科学家和临床医生的数量在过去十年中稳步增长。尽管如此，没有专门讨论癌症恶病质的国际会议。2012年，第一届国际癌症恶病质会议在马萨诸塞州波士顿举行。根据我们收到的反馈和第一次会议的成功，我们决定组织第二次会议。我们第二次会议的目标是1)增进我们对癌症恶病质的根本原因的了解；2)通过吸引内科科学家和年轻的研究人员到该领域来增加恶病质社区。实现这一目标可能会加速这种癌症综合征的治疗。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cachexia is a wasting condition tightly associated with chronic illnesses including, but not limited to, cancer, AIDS, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart and renal failure, diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease. The syndrome is characterized by severe weight loss due mainly to the breakdown of skeletal muscle. It has been estimated that cachexia is a direct cause of 30-50% of all cancer deaths cancers. These patients frequently succumb from impaired respiratory muscles and heart function. The prevalence of cancer cachexia varies with tumor type, but has the highest incidence in gastrointestinal, pancreatic, and advanced lung at the time of diagnosis. In addition, unlike muscle atrophy caused by starvation or physical inactivity, the collapse of muscle integrity in cachectic patients cannot be prevented or reversed by simply increasing caloric intake. As there is no effective cure for this syndrome, cancer cachexia has been (and still is) viewed as an end-of-life condition in patients with advanced malignancies that can be managed primarily through palliative care approaches. These and other observations underscore the importance of identifying new methods for the design of effective strategies to combat this deadly syndrome. Advances made in the last few years clearly demonstrate that cancer-cachexia is triggered via molecular pathways that are not activated by other illnesses. In addition, the number of scientists and clinicians that dedicate their research efforts to cancer cachexia has steadily grown in the last decade. Despite this, no international meeting was dedicated to cancer cachexia. In 2012, the first international cancer cachexia meeting was organized in Boston, Massachusettes. Based on the feedback we received and the successes of this first meeting, we decided to organize the 2nd meeting. The goals of our second meeting are to 1) to advance our understanding of the underlying causes of cancer cachexia; and 2) to increase the cachexia community by attracting physician scientists and young investigators to the field. Reaching this goal may potentially accelerate therapies for this cancer syndrome.