Brown Adipose Tissue Activity in Relation to Weight Gain During Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study

• Published in: Nutrition and cancer 2014, Vol.66 (7), p.1092-1096
• Main Authors: Gadea, Emilie, Thivat, Emilie, Merlin, Charles, Paulon, Rodolphe, Kwiatkowski, Fabrice, Chadeyras, Jean-Baptiste, Coudert, Bruno, Boirie, Yves, Morio, Béatrice, Durando, Xavier
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adipose Tissue, Brown - drug effects; Adipose Tissue, Brown - metabolism; Adult; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized - therapeutic use; Body Mass Index; Breast cancer; breast neoplasms; Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy; brown adipose tissue; Chemotherapy; computed tomography; Dyehouses; Female; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 - administration & dosage; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 - pharmacokinetics; heat production; Humans; Life Sciences; Middle Aged; normal values; nutrition; Patients; Pilot Projects; Positron-Emission Tomography; Taxoids - therapeutic use; Tissues; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Trastuzumab; weight gain; Weight Gain - drug effects; women
• ISSN: 1532-7914; 0163-5581; 1532-7914
• DOI: 10.1080/01635581.2014.948212

Weight gain has been reported in early stage breast cancer patients during chemotherapy, but the involved mechanisms remain unclear. A chemotherapy-induced decrease of brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity may partly contribute to weight gain in these patients. A positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan was performed at baseline and after 1 course of docetaxel + trastuzumab treatment in 26 breast cancer women. Variation of the maximal standardized uptake value of BAT in the cervical and supraclavicular regions between the 2 measures was assessed according to weight changes. Overall, ¹⁸F-FDG uptakes in BAT decreased by 11.3% after 1 course of chemotherapy (p = 0.03). No correlation was found between the baseline values of ¹⁸F-FDG uptake and body mass index or age of patients, but as expected ¹⁸F-FDG uptake was dependent on season period. Among the patients, 35% gained weight, 25% lost weight, and 40% remained stable. Women who gained weight during chemotherapy experienced a significant decrease of ¹⁸F-FDG uptake in BAT (p = 0.005). Decreased activity of BAT was associated with body weight gain during chemotherapy. These original data suggest for the first time that BAT modulation by chemotherapy would be a potential contributor to body weight gain through blunted thermogenesis in breast cancer patients.