A pilot study of temsirolimus and body composition

Purpose Body weight and composition play a role in cancer etiology, prognosis, and treatment response. Therefore, we analyzed the weight, body composition changes, and outcome in patients treated with temsirolimus, an mTor inhibitor that has weight loss as one of its side effects. Patients and metho...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle sarcopenia and muscle, 2013-12, Vol.4 (4), p.259-265
Main Authors: Veasey-Rodrigues, Heloisa, Parsons, Henrique A., Janku, Filip, Naing, Aung, Wheler, Jennifer J., Tsimberidou, Apostolia M., Kurzrock, Razelle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Angiogenesis
Body composition
Body fat
Cancer therapies
Clinical Nutrition
Drug dosages
Electronic health records
Geriatrics/Gerontology
Internal Medicine
Kidney cancer
Laboratories
Medical prognosis
Medical records
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Metabolism
Metabolites
Metastasis
Molecular Medicine
Musculoskeletal system
Oncology
Original
Original Article
Patients
Pharmacology/Toxicology
Sarcopenia
Temsirolimus
Tomography
Toxicity
Tumors
Womens health
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose Body weight and composition play a role in cancer etiology, prognosis, and treatment response. Therefore, we analyzed the weight, body composition changes, and outcome in patients treated with temsirolimus, an mTor inhibitor that has weight loss as one of its side effects. Patients and methods Sixteen patients with advanced solid tumors treated with temsirolimus were studied; body composition was evaluated utilizing computerized tomography images. Sarcopenia was defined as skeletal muscle index lower than 38.5 cm 2 /m 2 for women and 52.4 cm 2 /m 2 for men. Results Five of 16 patients (31 %) were men; median age, 60 years. Forty-four percent (7/16) of patients were sarcopenic. Fatigue, anemia, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia were common. Baseline sarcopenia and body composition did not correlate with worse toxicity or treatment outcome. However, there was a trend for greater loss of adipose area ( p  = 0.07), fat mass ( p  = 0.09), and adipose index ( p  = 0.07) for patients with grade 3 or 4 toxicities versus those with grade 1 and 2 side effects. Conclusion Patients with higher grade toxicities tended to lose more body fat, suggesting a possible end-organ metabolic effect of temsirolimus. These observations merit exploration in a larger cohort of patients.
ISSN:2190-5991
2190-6009
DOI:10.1007/s13539-013-0113-y