Cited by 357Muscle Physiology and DisordersNutrition and Health in AgingCytokine Signaling Pathways and Interactions

STAT3 Activation in Skeletal Muscle Links Muscle Wasting and the Acute Phase Response in Cancer Cachexia

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Bonetto, Andrea, Aydogdu, Tufan, Kunzevitzky, Noelia, Guttridge, Denis C., Khuri, Sawsan, Koniaris, Leonidas G., Zimmers, Teresa A.·2011·PLoS ONE

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cachexia, or weight loss despite adequate nutrition, significantly impairs quality of life and response to therapy in cancer patients. In cancer patients, skeletal muscle wasting, weight loss and mortality are all positively associated with increased serum cytokines, particularly Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and the presence of the acute phase response. Acute phase proteins, including fibrinogen and serum amyloid A (SAA) are synthesized by hepatocytes in response to IL-6 as part of the innate immune response. To gain insight into the relationships among these observations, we studied mice with moderate and severe Colon-26 (C26)-carcinoma cachexia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Moderate and severe C26 cachexia was associated with high serum IL-6 and IL-6 family cytokines and highly similar patterns of skeletal muscle gene expression. The top canonical pathways up-regulated in both were the complement/coagulation cascade, proteasome, MAPK signaling, and the IL-6 and STAT3 pathways. Cachexia was associated with increased muscle pY705-STAT3 and increased STAT3 localization in myonuclei. STAT3 target genes, including SOCS3 mRNA and acute phase response proteins, were highly induced in cachectic muscle. IL-6 treatment and STAT3 activation both also induced fibrinogen in cultured C2C12 myotubes. Quantitation of muscle versus liver fibrinogen and SAA protein levels indicates that muscle contributes a large fraction of serum acute phase proteins in cancer. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results suggest that the STAT3 transcriptome is a major mechanism for wasting in cancer. Through IL-6/STAT3 activation, skeletal muscle is induced to synthesize acute phase proteins, thus establishing a molecular link between the observations of high IL-6, increased acute phase response proteins and muscle wasting in cancer. These results suggest a mechanism by which STAT3 might causally influence muscle wasting by altering the profile of genes expressed and translated in muscle such that amino acids liberated by increased proteolysis in cachexia are synthesized into acute phase proteins and exported into the blood.

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Crossref · 10.1371/journal.pone.0022538

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  • Acute increase in systemic IL-6 promotes muscle growth and hypertrophy, while sustained elevation, as in cancer or diabetes, causes muscle atrophy.

    “While an acute increase in systemic IL‐6 promotes muscle growth and hypertrophy, its sustained elevation, as occurring in cancer or diabetes, causes muscle atrophy.”

    From Sepsis induces interleukin 6, gp130/JAK2/STAT3, and muscle wasting (2022) · cites this paper as [15]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) says that elevated circulating IL-6 accompanies muscle wasting in the C26 cancer model and that administering IL-6 to mice can induce systemic muscle wasting. It does not say that an acute systemic IL-6 increase promotes muscle growth or hypertrophy, or establish the claimed effect in diabetes. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • gp130 via the JAK/STAT pathway mediates muscle atrophy in a cancer cachexia mouse model.

    “Our data are in accordance with previous reports showing that gp130 via the JAK/STAT pathway mediates muscle atrophy in a cancer cachexia mouse model. 15 , 27 , 28”

    From Sepsis induces interleukin 6, gp130/JAK2/STAT3, and muscle wasting (2022) · cites this paper as [15]

    The Introduction (page unavailable) describes IL-6 signaling through gp130 and JAK to activate STAT3, while the Results report muscle wasting and increased muscle STAT3 activation in C26 tumor-bearing mice. The paper supports an association and proposes a mechanism, but does not establish that the gp130–JAK/STAT pathway causally mediates the atrophy as the citing sentence states. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [5]Grosvenor M Bulcavage L Chlebowski RT 1989 Symptoms potentially influencing weight loss in a cancer population. Correlations with primary site, nutritional status, and chemotherapy administration. Cancer 63 330 334 2910438
  2. [21]Libonati JR Howell AK Incanno NM Pettee KK Glassberg HL 2001 Brief muscle hypoperfusion/hyperemia: an ergogenic aid? J Strength Cond Res 15 362 366 11710666
  3. [24]Falconer JS Fearon KC Ross JA Elton R Wigmore SJ 1995 Acute-phase protein response and survival duration of patients with pancreatic cancer. Cancer 75 2077 2082 7535184

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Authors
Bonetto, A., Aydogdu, T., Kunzevitzky, N., Guttridge, D. C., Khuri, S., Koniaris, L. G., & Zimmers, T. A.
Affiliations
University of Miami (US)
Corresponding author
Zimmers, Teresa A.
Venue
PLoS ONE
Published
2011-07-20
Volume
6
Issue
7
Pages
e22538
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2052712443
Cited by
348
References
84
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 11
FWCI
7.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Defense
  • American Cancer Society
  • University of Miami
  • National Cancer Institute (CA122596, R01CA122596)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM092758)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Muscle Physiology and Disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Nutrition and Health in Aging
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cytokine Signaling Pathways and Interactions
Keywords
cancer cachexia, STAT3 signaling, skeletal muscle atrophy, interleukin-6, acute phase response, acute phase proteins, fibrinogen, serum amyloid A, SOCS3, C26 colon carcinoma, muscle protein degradation, muscle transcriptome, IL-6 family cytokines
MeSH terms
Acute-Phase Reaction, Animals, Cachexia, Colonic Neoplasms, Female, Humans, Liver, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Cytokines, Muscle, Skeletal, Cell Line, Tumor, STAT3 Transcription Factor, Mice, Transcriptome

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