ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the changes of serum myostatin (MSTN) level in patients with gastric carcinoma-associated cachexia and to investigate the relationship between MSTN and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) preliminarily.Methods Eighty patients with gastric cancer were divided into two groups based on their Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessement (PG-SGA) scores:gastric carcinoma-associated cachexia group (GCC group,32 cases; PG-SGA stage C) and gastric carcinoma non-cachexia group (GCNC,48 cases; PG-SGA stage A + B).The serum MSTN and TNF-α levels were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay,and relevant parameters including height,weight,albumin,hemoglobin,and C-reactive protein were also recorded before operation.Eighty healthy adults were chosen as the control group.Results The serum MSTN level in the GCC group [(1.36 ±0.50) μg/L] was significantly higher than that in the GCNC group [(0.91 ±0.49) μg/L; x2 =14.67,P =0.00],whereas the serum MSTN level in the GCNC group was significantly higher than that in the control group [(0.70 ± 0.37) μg/L; x2 =36.45,P =0.00].Serum MSTN level was not correlated with TNF-α in the GCC group (r=0.18,P=0.31),GCNC group (r=0.08,P=0.58),or control group (r=-0.16,P＝0.16).Conclusions Serum MSTN level is elevated in patients with gastric carcinoma-associated cachexia.However,it is not correlated with serum TNF-α.