Nutritional Support for Patients with Pancreatic Cancer

Min Kyu Jung

doi:10.4166/kjg.2019.74.2.87

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Jung: Nutritional Support for Patients with Pancreatic Cancer

Special Review

Supportive and Palliative Care of Pancreatic Cancer

The Korean Journal of Gastroenterology 2019; 74(2): 87-94.

Published online: 27 August 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4166/kjg.2019.74.2.87

Nutritional Support for Patients with Pancreatic Cancer

Min Kyu Jung^1,²

¹Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.

²Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu, Korea.

Correspondence to: Min Kyu Jung, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, 680 Gukchaebosang-ro, Jung-gu, Daegu 41944, Korea. Tel: +82-53-200-5514, Fax: +82-53-426-8773, minky1973@knu.ac.kr

Received 17 July 2019 Revised 29 July 2019 Accepted 1 August 2019

Korean Society of Gastroenterology

(open-access):

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is the ninth common malignancy in South Korea. It has a dismal prognosis with a 5-year overall survival rate of less than 10%, and pancreatic cancer is associated with cancer cachexia, which is defined as the loss of muscle mass that is not reversible by conventional nutritional support. Cachexia is noted in over 85% of all pancreatic cancer patients and it is strongly related with the disease’s mortality. Nearly 30% of pancreatic cancer deaths are due to cachexia rather than being due to the tumor burden. Therefore, it is crucial to discover the mechanisms behind the development of muscle wasting in pancreatic cancer patients and find novel therapeutics for targeting cachexia. This review deals with the current understanding about the development of cachexia and nutritional support in those patients suffering with pancreatic cancer.

Keywords: Nutritional support, Pancreatic neoplasms, Cachexia

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1

Proinflammatory cytokines are drivers of cancer-induced cachexia. Proinflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α activate downstream signaling of NF-kB and this results in overstimulation of NF-kB and degradation of muscle proteins through the production of catabolic cytokines. Cytokines can also activate the Jak2/STAT3 signaling pathways that can lead to degradation of skeletal muscle protein. TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor α; MuRF1, muscle RING finger-containing protein 1; IL, interleukin.

Notes

^{Financial support} None.

^{Conflict of interest} None.

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ORCID iDs: Min Kyu Jung
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8749-408X
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