Heart failure and cachexia: insights offered from molecular biology

Chronic heart failure (CHF) is an enormous medical and communal burden. The syndrome is common, carries a grim prognosis and severely impacts quality of life. Those patients who develop cardiac cachexia combat both important disability and a poor outlook. Muscle wasting is a critical component of cachexia. The pathophysiological determinants are numerous and some of them are common to other chronic severe illnesses. There is increasing awareness, however, that heart failure related myopathy is a distinct entity, characterized by specific functional, structural and morphologic changes and the involvement of several neurohormonal pathways, catabolic processes, a pro-inflammatory environment and increased oxidative stress. Although clear-cut evidence based solutions for the problem are not readily available, the modulating effects of regular exercise in CHF patients suggest that physical training should at least be incorporated in the essentially multi-disciplinary approach.