Changes of gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of lung cancer patients with or without anorexia. Issue 1 (January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Molfino, Alessio; Ambrosani, Francesca; Tambaro, Federica; Belli, Roberta; Imbimbo, Giovanni; Udali, Silvia; Moruzzi, Sara; Pattini, Patrizia; Ramaccini, Cesarina; Castagna, Annalisa; Muscaritoli, Maurizio; Friso, Simonetta
• Is Part Of: Clinical nutrition. Volume 42:Issue 1(2023)
• Page Start: 9
• Page End: 17
• Publication Date: 2023-01
• Subjects: Anorexia -- Cancer -- Appetite -- Genome-wide transcriptomic profiling -- RT-qPCR; Critically ill -- Nutrition -- Periodicals; Diet therapy -- Periodicals; Parenteral feeding -- Periodicals; Enteral feeding -- Periodicals; Enteral Nutrition -- Periodicals; Parenteral Nutrition -- Periodicals; Metabolism -- Periodicals; Diétothérapie -- Périodiques; Alimentation parentérale -- Périodiques; Alimentation entérale -- Périodiques; Nutrition -- Périodiques; Diet therapy; Enteral feeding; Nutrition; Parenteral feeding; Electronic journals; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 615.854
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2022.11.013
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0261-5614

Abstract

Summary: Background & aims: Anorexia is a disabling symptom in cancer and we aimed at investigating the role of changes in gene expression in lung cancer patients presenting with anorexia. Methods: Genome-wide transcriptomic profiling was assessed in PBMCs RNA from newly diagnosed lung cancer patients and in a control group. RT-qPCR was used for selected genes. Results: RNA-Seq analysis revealed among groups a large number of differentially expressed genes mainly implicated in immune system regulation, oxidative stress and cytokine-mediated inflammation signaling pathways. In particular, we identified a total of 983 DEGs (843 up-regulated; 140 down-regulated) in anorexic cancer compared to controls. A selected number of DEGs including ADAM8, SMAD4, CCR4 and CLU were differentially expressed within cancer group according to the presence/absence of anorexia. In terms of RT-qPCR, ADAM8 was less expressed in cancer patients than controls (p < 0.001), and in anorexic patients vs controls (p = 0.001). The expression of SMAD4 was lower in cancer vs controls (p = 0.005), and in anorexic patients vs controls (p = 0.009). We observed lower CCR4 expression in both anorexic and non-anorexic vs control (p = 0.004, p = 0.011, respectively) and a similar trend was present for CLU . Conclusions: Our data shed new light on the role of specific genes and their associated molecular pathways as potential key mechanisms for the development of anorexia and may represent a novel landmark for understanding the complex pathophysiology of impaired appetite in cancer.