Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle
Circulating MicroRNAs Reflect Systemic Inflammation and Metabolic Dysfunction in Oesophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma-Associated Cachexia
By Li Y, Chen R, Lv X and 3 others.
Abstract
Background
Cachexia in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma is driven by systemic inflammation and malnutrition and is associated with poor survival. We evaluated whether circulating miRNAs can identify ESCC cachexia and reflect its inflammatory-nutritional phenotype.
Methods
We enrolled 126 participants: 42 healthy controls and 84 treatment-naïve patients with ESCC, equally classified as noncachectic or cachectic using international consensus criteria. Small-RNA sequencing in a discovery subset (n = 4/group) was followed by cohort-wide qRT-PCR. Exploratory within-cohort discrimination was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis; survival associations were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier and univariate Cox analyses.