ArticleJournal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle2026
Distinct Metabolomic Alterations Are Associated With Physical Function, Weight Loss, and Muscle Mass in Men With Cancer.
Article in Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Distinct Metabolomic Alterations Are Associated With Physical Function, Weight Loss, and Muscle Mass in Men With Cancer.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTreatments for cancer cachexia, defined as involuntary weight and muscle mass loss leading to significant functional impairment, remain unavailable partly due to insufficient improvement of clinically meaningful outcomes in current trials. By reflecting downstream effects of cellular function, metabolomics may identify mechanisms contributing to poor functional performance. Previous metabolomic studies in cancer cachexia have identified alterations in amino acid metabolism with weight loss or low muscularity; none have examined perturbations with poor physical function. We hypothesized that distinct metabolic signals in plasma and muscle are associated with weight loss, low muscle mass, and impaired function in cancer cachexia.
methodsWe enrolled patients planning elective laparotomy for gastrointestinal or genitourinary cancer. Handgrip strength (HGS), stair climb power (SCP), and fasting plasma were collected within 2 weeks prior to surgery; rectus abdominis samples were obtained during surgery. Metabolomic perturbations associated with physical function (HGS, SCP), muscularity (lumbar cross-sectional area 'CSA' from opportunistic CT), or weight loss (> 5% over previous 6 months) were examined in plasma and muscle. The Mann-Whitney U-test compared metabolite abundance between weight-losing and weight-stable patients, while Spearman's correlation tested associations of abundance with CSA, HGS, or SCP. The 'Globaltest' method assessed pathway alterations with weight loss, CSA, HGS, or SCP; the Benjamini-Hochberg adjustment was used to control for false discovery.
resultsPatients (N = 72) were male, median age 65 [interquartile range: 59-70], with 57% genitourinary cancer. Plasma and skeletal muscle metabolomic data were collected (N = 64 and N = 68, respectively). Weight loss was associated with significantly altered microbial, amino acid/derivative, fatty acid/lipid, and caffeine-related metabolism pathways in plasma (adjusted p < 0.1). Lower CSA was associated with significantly altered fatty acid/lipid, galactose, glycerophospholipid, and histidine metabolism and bile secretion pathways in skeletal muscle (adjusted p < 0.1). Worse HGS was nominally associated with altered plasma branched chain amino acid biosynthesis and altered skeletal muscle glutathione metabolism (unadjusted p ≤ 0.05), while worse SCP was nominally associated with altered skeletal muscle amino sugar/nucleotide sugar metabolism and phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis (unadjusted p ≤ 0.05).
conclusionsSignificant metabolomic alterations in plasma and skeletal muscle characterized cancer-related weight loss and reduced CSA, respectively. Nominal, function-specific alterations were detected with worse HGS and SCP, which were distinct from those associated with weight loss or low CSA. Future larger studies may further characterize metabolomic profiles related to various functional outcomes and guide development of therapeutic targets to improve functional performance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.