Altered exocrine function can drive adipose wasting in early pancreatic cancer.

Nature
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Malignancy is accompanied by changes in the metabolism of both cells and the organism. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is associated with wasting of peripheral tissues, a metabolic syndrome that lowers quality of life and has been proposed to decrease survival of patients with cancer. Tissue wasting is a multifactorial disease and targeting specific circulating factors to reverse this syndrome has been mostly ineffective in the clinic. Here we show that loss of both adipose and muscle tissue occurs early in the development of pancreatic cancer. Using mouse models of PDAC, we show that tumour growth in the pancreas but not in other sites leads to adipose tissue wasting, suggesting that tumour growth within the pancreatic environment contributes to this wasting phenotype. We find that decreased exocrine pancreatic function is a driver of adipose tissue loss and that replacement of pancreatic enzymes attenuates PDAC-associated wasting of peripheral tissues. Paradoxically, reversal of adipose tissue loss impairs survival in mice with PDAC. When analysing patients with PDAC, we find that depletion of adipose and skeletal muscle tissues at the time of diagnosis is common, but is not associated with worse survival. Taken together, these results provide an explanation for wasting of adipose tissue in early PDAC and suggest that early loss of peripheral tissue associated with pancreatic cancer may not impair survival.

Year of Publication
2018
Journal
Nature
Volume
558
Issue
7711
Pages
600-604
Date Published
2018 06
ISSN
1476-4687
DOI
10.1038/s41586-018-0235-7
PubMed ID
29925948
PubMed Central ID
PMC6112987
Links
Grant list
T32 GM007287 / GM / NIGMS NIH HHS / United States
U01 CA210171 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
F32 CA213810 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
R01 CA168653 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
P30 CA014051 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
P50 CA102701 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
F32 CA210421 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
P50 CA127003 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
HHMI / Howard Hughes Medical Institute / United States
P01 CA117969 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States