Antibody halts cancer-related wasting condition
New research from scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a Harvard affiliate, raises the prospect of more effective treatments for cachexia, a profound wasting of fat and muscle that occurs in about half of all cancer patients, raising their risk of death. Many strategies have been tried to reverse the condition, which can cause such frailty that patients can’t endure potentially life-saving treatments, but none have had great success. In the July 13 advanced online edition of Nature, scientists led by Bruce Spiegelman, the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Professor of Cell Biology and Medicine at Harvard Medical School, reported that symptoms of cachexia in mice with lung tumors improved or were prevented when the mice were given an antibody that blocked the effects of a protein, PTHrP, secreted by the tumor cells. PTHrP, which stands for parathyroid hormone-related protein, is known to be released from many types of cancer cells. The scientists said their findings...