Cancer Cachexia

Cover Design and Medical Illustrations

Visualizing the link between immune cells to cancer cachexia associated inflammation

Biotic Artlab and their partner at Maastricht University worked together to create an editorial cover design to reflect their research on cancer cachexia.

Cachexia is a metabolic disease affects up to 80% of patients with advanced cancer. The symptoms involve a drastic loss of skeletal muscle and fat. During cachexia, patients often exhibit chronic inflammation. Our research partner sought to explore the role of macrophages within this inflammation response.

In tracking macrophage metabolism, the study sought to see if they could create a link in using macrophages as mediators of chronic inflammation in cancer cachexia.

Capabilities

Cover Design

Medical Illustrations

Giving a face to scientific research through editorial cover design.

A complex metabolic disease with a complicated prognosis.

Cancer cachexia is caused by a combination of factors, including the production of inflammatory cytokines, tumor metabolism, and the metabolic demands of the cancer itself. These factors lead to a loss of appetite, reduced food intake, and a breakdown of muscle tissue to provide energy to the body. The loss of muscle mass leads to weakness, fatigue, and an overall decrease in quality of life.

Most patients “are completely unfamiliar with the term and what [cachexia] is,” Dr. Roeland said. And too often, he continued, oncologists erroneously view cachexia “as an end-stage complication of uncontrolled cancer.”

There are currently no approved treatments for cancer cachexia, although several approaches have been investigated. These include nutritional support, appetite stimulants, and exercise. Nutritional support involves the use of high-calorie supplements or enteral feeding to maintain weight and muscle mass. Appetite stimulants such as megestrol acetate or dronabinol can also be used to increase food intake. Exercise has been shown to improve muscle mass and function in cancer patients, although the optimal exercise regimen for cachexia remains unclear.