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Updated: Sep 15, 2025
The Colon-26 Carcinoma Tumor-bearing Mouse as a Model for the Study of Cancer Cachexia
Published on: November 30, 2016
Development of an efficient mice model of cancer-associated cardiac cachexia
Shijie Xiong1,2, Huiting Zheng1,2, Teng Wu1,2
1Guangdong Engineering & Technology Research Center for Disease-Model Animals, Laboratory Animal Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Background:
Cancer-associated cardiac cachexia (CACC) refers to cardiac injury in cancer patients in a malignant state, but preclinical animal models remain inadequately developed.
Methods:
This study established CACC models in C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice using orthotopic, intra-abdominal, and hematogenous metastatic tumor induction. Multimodal cardiac assessments, including echocardiography, transmission electron microscopy for myocardial ultrastructural and mitochondrial analysis, and ex vivo cardiomyocyte contractility assays, were systematically applied.
Results:
Metastatic burden triggered CACC characterized by cardiac mass reduction, epicardial fat depletion, interstitial fibrosis, and electrocardiographic abnormalities. Histopathological analysis revealed cardiomyocyte atrophy, myofibrillar disarray, mitochondrial dysfunction, and ubiquitin-mediated Myh6 degradation via MuRF-1, accompanied by compensatory Myh7 upregulation. These findings mechanistically link tumor-induced cachexia to cardiac dysfunction through contractile protein remodeling.
Conclusion:
This work establishes a preclinical framework for targeting ubiquitin pathways to mitigate the morbidity of cancer-related cardiopathy. Our integrated approach delineates a hierarchical progression from subcellular dysfunction to macroscopic cardiac deterioration.
