Factors related to and consequences of weight loss in patients with stomach cancer: the Norwegian multicenter experience

Article Abstract:

Weight loss is one of the more obvious of the systemic effects of cancer. Among patients with stomach cancer, this weight loss may result not only from the systemic effects of cancer, but also from interference of the cancer with normal nutritional intake. In a study of 1,165 patients with stomach cancer, it was possible to obtain data on weight loss prior to diagnosis in 855 cases. The median (most common) weight loss was five kilograms (about 11 pounds), but this weight loss was by no means universal, and a full 31 percent of the patients did not lose any weight. Weight loss correlated with tumor stage: as might be expected, weight loss was greater among patients with more advanced stomach cancer. Older patients were also likely to have lost more weight, as were patients with poor performance status, that is, patients whose disease strongly affected their abilities to perform activities of daily living. The cancer of patients with greater weight loss was less likely to be amenable to surgical treatment. However, among the patients whose cancers were operable, weight loss did not affect the rate of postoperative complications. It is perhaps surprising, therefore, that the rate of postoperative death was affected by weight loss; patients with weight losses between 5 and 10 kilograms (about 11 and 22 pounds) had 2.5 times the likelihood of death as patients who had lost no weight. It is not clear, however, whether the weight loss directly affects postoperative mortality or whether the association of postoperative mortality and weight loss is simply a result of the strong relation between weight loss and tumor stage and grade. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Care and treatment, Prognosis, Stomach cancer

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Inhibitory effects of the gastrin receptor antagonist (L-365,260) on gastrointestinal tumor cells

Article Abstract:

Gastrin is a hormone that influences cells of the gastrointestinal system. In addition to its normal function, gastrin may also help to stimulate the growth of malignant cells. In one study, more than half the specimens of colorectal cancer tested were found to have high-affinity receptors for gastrin on their cell surfaces. Only 33 percent had no gastrin receptors at all. This raises the possibility that antagonists of the gastrin receptors might be used to slow the growth of cancers. A preliminary study to evaluate the feasibility of this approach was conducted using laboratory cultures of colorectal cancer cells. An experimental antagonist of the gastrin receptor, known only as L-365,260, was added to growing specimens of two different human colorectal cancer cell cultures. The growth of one cell line was inhibited by 44 percent, while the growth of the other was inhibited by 64 percent. A related series of experiments utilized nude mice. These laboratory mice have a seriously impaired cellular immune system, and therefore cannot destroy experimentally injected cancer cells as easily as normal mice. The experimenters injected the mice with cells from a rat pancreatic cancer that was known to have gastrin receptors. The administration of G17, a form of gastrin, hastened the growth of the cancers in these animals. However, if L-365,260 was given to the mice, the G17 no longer stimulated the progression of the cancer. Since many human cancers of the gastrointestinal tract have gastrin receptors, the authors hope that gastrin receptor antagonists may find application in the treatment of these cancers. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Physiological aspects, Colorectal cancer, Hormone receptors, Gastrointestinal diseases, Gastrin

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