Nutritional Status, Body Comp, and Cancer Treatment (Week 5 Lecture 1)

Question 1

Fat mass reduction in cancer patients

Answer 1

Reduced fat mass: is a component of catabolic wasting in cancer patients.
* Adipocytes from weight losing cancer patients are more sensitive to catabolic stimuli

Question 2

Role of adipose tissue

Answer 2

Adipocytes from weight losing cancer patients are more sensitive to catabolic stimuli
* Active endocrine organ

Question 3

Importance of adipose tissue in Cancer

Answer 3

Fat loss is associated with reduced quality of life and shorter survival
* may have protective factor
* may prevent muscle loss

Question 4

Differences between adipose depots

Answer 4

• Anatomic Location → Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) inside the abdominal muscular wall
• Endocrine function, adipokine secretion → VAT: IL-6, TNF-α, MCP-1 SAT: Leptin
• Type of cells → Inflammatory cells are more prevalent in VAT
• Lipolytic capacity → Higher responsiveness of VAT to lipolytic factors

Question 5

Colour representation on CT scan

Answer 5

• blue: SAT
• yellow: VAT
• red: muscle
• green: intramuscular fat

Question 6

How does body fat composition typically differ between men and women?

Answer 6

• men: more VAT
• women: more SAT

Question 7

survival advantage with subcutaneous versus adipose

Answer 7

• low adiposity associated with the highest mortality risk and shorter survival
• patients with lower subcutaneous adiposity are at greater risk of mortality
• Subcutaneous adipose tissue appears to havea. protection against mortality in cancer patients demonstrating the prognostic importance of body fat distribution

Question 8

intensity and time course of changes in VAT and SAT preceding death

Answer 8

• As death approaches, the majority of patients lose fat.
• Changes in total adipose tissue masks what occurs specifically in each depot.
• Further from death, VAT and SAT behave differently whereas close to death, greatest loss occurs in both depots.

Question 9

How does chemotherapy effect adipose tissue?

Answer 9

Mitochondrial dysfunction, and inhibited lipogenesis are occurring as a consequence of chemotherapy treatment and contributing to diminished size of adipocytes.
* Adipose tissue was not able to efficiently oxidize FAs to provide energy to maintain energy demanding pathways like lipogenesis inside the tissue.
* Interventions to maintain mitochondrial functions may be effective in preventing adipose atrophy following chemotherapy treatment.