Changing the Future of Cancer: Pennington Biomedical Part of International Team Awarded

$ 25 Million many as 80% of people with advanced cancer.

“The extreme weight loss and muscle loss makes daily activities difficult or even impossible for individuals, and it increases their risk for death,” said Brown, the Director of Pennington Biomedical’s Cancer Metabolism Research Program. “And we can’t reverse the weight loss by adding more calories to the diet. In fact, at this time there are no treatments at all for it.”

Pennington Biomedical faculty members Steven Heymsfield, MD, and Justin Brown, PhD, are members of an international team that has secured $25 million to take on the challenge of cachexia. The team, called the Cancer Cachexia Action Network (CANCAN) is led by the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Weill Cornell Medicine and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

CANCAN is made up of clinicians, advocates, and scientists with expertise in cancer, metabolism, neuroendocrinology, and immunology from 14 institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom. Collectively, they are building the world’s first virtual institute with a mission to solve cancer cachexia. The team plans to develop a deep understanding of what causes cachexia and innovate novel treatments to intervene with the potential to transform people’s quality of life and ultimately survival.

Cachexia (pronounced kuh-KEK-see-uh) is actually a metabolic disorder that can affect as

Cachexia is a major clinical problem, present in other chronic diseases as well, including heart failure, obstructive pulmonary disease and kidney disease.

“Cachexia contributes to adverse outcomes in cancer and other chronic diseases. However, its underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Discovering what actually triggers cachexia and how it interacts with the underlying cancer may lead to treatments and preventions that improve the course of some common forms of cancer,” said Heymsfield, Pennington Biomedical’s Lead Investigator on the team, and Professor and Director of Pennington Biomedical’s Body Composition & Metabolism Laboratory. “Scientists are driven to discover the root causes of disease and being part of this team and the Cancer Grand Challenge project fulfills that dream.”

Cancer Grand Challenges, a prestigious global funding platform supported by Cancer Research U.K. and the U.S. National Cancer Institute, is sponsoring the work. Cancer Grand Challenges seeks to bring together diverse, global teams to think differently and take on some of cancer’s toughest challenges. Nearly 170 teams from more than 60 countries submitted proposals to Cancer Grand Challenges. CANCAN is one of four teams chosen for funding.

“We think that cachexia is driven by the tumor, which activates biological pathways that lead to anorexia, metabolic dysfunction and tissue wasting,” Heymsfield said. “As part of CANCAN, we will explore the metabolic imbalance between the tumor and the patient, the role of inflammation in controlling appetite, and the potential to change the course of the disease through diet and medications.”

“It’s a very exciting time to be in cancer research, and we’re excited to be part of this international team of researchers,” said Brown. “This is a unique opportunity to tackle complex issues like cachexia that would have been impossible before now.”

”We hope, as part of the CANCAN team, to get to the bottom of cancer cachexia and ultimately, provide the benchmark for care around the world,” Heymsfield said.