Chemotherapy-Induced Molecular Changes in Skeletal Muscle.

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Molecular Biology
• Physiology

Background:

• Paraneoplastic conditions like cancer cachexia are worsened by chemotherapy.
• Chemotherapy negatively impacts patient quality of life and treatment response.
• Skeletal muscle remodeling is a key concern in cancer cachexia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review body composition changes and molecular effects of chemotherapy on skeletal muscle.
• To synthesize findings from preclinical and clinical studies on chemotherapy's impact on skeletal muscle.

Main Methods:

• Narrative review of literature.
• Searched Web of Science, Scopus, and Science Direct databases.
• Retrieved and analyzed 77 relevant papers.

Main Results:

• Chemotherapy exacerbates skeletal muscle wasting in cancer patients.
• Molecular changes in skeletal muscle are primarily studied in animal models.
• Clinical studies mainly assess body composition via CT scans.
• Chemotherapy affects pathways like ubiquitin-proteasome, autophagy, IGF-1/PI3K/Akt/mTOR, IL-6/JAK/STAT, and NF-κB.
• Newer chemotherapy agents' effects are underexplored.

Conclusions:

• Chemotherapy significantly contributes to skeletal muscle wasting in cancer.
• Incomplete understanding of molecular mechanisms hinders development of preventive strategies.
• Further clinical and molecular investigations are essential for effective interventions.