Analysis of the human tumor microenvironment features associated to cachexia in cancer patients

Cancer cachexia occurs at a very high prevalence (up to 90%) among cancer, characterized by a severe body weight loss due to muscle wasting. The occurrence of cachexia reduces the quality of life of the patients, interferes with the therapy and accounts for the death of about 20% of cancer patients. We and others have noticed that patients with the same type of tumor, at the same stage, may or not experience cachexia: the mechanisms responsible for this differential response are still unknown. This prompts us to investigate human gastro-intestinal tumors, which have been obtained from cancer patients that differ in being weight stable or cachectic, by X-Ray Phase Contrast Tomography (XPCT). Thanks to the resolution and high throughput screening of this approach, we aim to unveil unexpected differences in the tumor microenvironment, including stromal tissue composition and microcirculation, accounting for the observed striking difference in the induction of cachexia.