Plasma arginine concentrations are reduced in cancer patients: evidence for arginine deficiency?
| Autor: | Yvonne L. J. Vissers, Nicolaas E. P. Deutz, Yvette C. Luiking, Maarten F. von Meyenfeldt, Cornelis H. C. Dejong, K. C. H. Fearon |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Algemene Heelkunde, RS: NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2005 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male medicine.medical_specialty Pancreatic disease Arginine Colorectal cancer Medicine (miscellaneous) Breast Neoplasms Cachexia Breast cancer Neoplasms Pancreatic cancer Internal medicine Weight Loss Blood plasma medicine Humans Aged Nutrition and Dietetics business.industry Cancer Middle Aged medicine.disease Pancreatic Neoplasms Endocrinology Case-Control Studies Colonic Neoplasms Female business |
| Zdroj: | American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 81(5), 1142-1146. Oxford University Press |
| ISSN: | 0002-9165 |
| Popis: | BACKGROUND: The disturbances leading to cancer cachexia remain to be unraveled. Preliminary evidence suggests that arginine availability in cancer is reduced. However, no valid data are available on plasma arginine concentrations in cancer patients. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine whether there is evidence for disturbed arginine metabolism in cancer. DESIGN: We measured plasma arginine concentrations postabsorptively in patients with various types of tumors, hypothesizing that arginine concentrations would be lower than those in age- and sex-matched control subjects. Patients with localized tumors with a range of metabolic implications were studied: breast cancer (no weight loss), colonic cancer (sometimes weight loss), and pancreatic cancer (usually weight loss). Plasma amino acid concentrations were measured by HPLC. RESULTS: Plasma arginine concentrations were lower in patients with cancer (breast cancer: 80 +/- 3 compared with 103 +/- 9 micromol/L; colonic cancer: 80 +/- 3 compared with 96 +/- 7 micromol/L; pancreatic cancer: 76 +/- 5 compared with 99 +/- 7 micromol/L; P < 0.05 versus respective age- and sex-matched control subjects), irrespective of tumor type, weight loss, tumor stage, or body mass index (correlations with P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Malignant tumors associated with various degrees of metabolic derangements are all associated with decreased plasma arginine concentrations, even without weight loss. This suggests that decreased arginine availability is a specific feature of the presence of cancer. These disturbances in arginine metabolism could contribute to the cascade of metabolic events leading to cancer cachexia. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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