ArticlePloS one2011
STAT3 activation in skeletal muscle links muscle wasting and the acute phase response in cancer cachexia.
Article in PloS one, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 231 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
231 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 344 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of IL-6 Signaling Pathway Inhibition on Weight and BMI: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Pooled it
- The Pathway to Cancer Cachexia: MicroRNA-Regulated Networks in Muscle Wasting Based on Integrative Meta-Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2019Pooled it
- Bioinformatics analysis of proteins in the complement and coagulation cascades in colon cancer: Discovering the potential biomarker SERPINA1.Oncology letters · 2026Article
- Multi-organ transcriptome profiling in an isogenic cachexia-inducing xenograft model to dissect host responses across heart, liver, kidney, and muscle.Human cell · 2026Article
- Understanding cachexia and muscle dysfunction in the context of metastatic breast cancer.Cancer metastasis reviews · 2026Review
- ACL injury reprograms quadriceps myonuclear epigenetic and transcriptional signatures in mice.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- MyoRep: A Novel Reporter System to Detect Early Muscle Atrophy In Vitro and In Vivo.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2026Article
- Dietary supplementation with ursolic acid preserves skeletal muscle mass and strength in mouse models of cancer cachexia.American journal of physiology. Cell physiology · 2026Article
- Formation of Liver Metastases Is Accompanied by Accelerated Musculoskeletal Deficits in LLC Tumor Hosts.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Cancer cachexia: A tumor-driven disorder of whole-body homeostasis.Cancer cell · 2026Review
- The Conjugated Bile Acids Profile Suggests a Novel Liver-Muscle Axis Associated With Sarcopenia in Chronic Liver Disease.Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver · 2026Article
- Scutellarein attenuates cancer cachexia-induced muscle atrophy via targeted inhibition of the JAK/STAT pathway.Journal of advanced research · 2026Article
- Single-Cell RNA-Sequencing Reveals Cachectic Satellite Cell Population in Muscle of Male Mice With Cancer Cachexia.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2026Article
- Exercise-modulated IL-6 in cancer cachexia: molecular mechanisms and therapeutic potential.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Tumor-derived MG53 aggravates gastrointestinal cancer cachexia related muscle atrophy by inhibiting the TLR4/PI3K/AKT/FOXO3a signaling pathway.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Skeletal muscle methylome-transcriptome disruptions during the onset and progression of colorectal cancer-induced cachexia.American journal of physiology. Cell physiology · 2026Article
- MOTS-c partially protects against skeletal muscle deterioration in C26 cachexia.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Vitamin B1 Involved inInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- JAK1/2 Inhibition Delays Cachexia and Improves Survival through Increased Food Intake.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Comment on 'Ablation of LAT2 Transporter Causes Intramuscular Glutamine Accumulation and Inhibition of Fasting-Induced Proteolysis' by Espino-Guarch et al.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2025Article
171 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCachexia, 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
findingsModerate 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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Registered trials
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