Abstract
While chemotherapy remains a common cancer treatment, it is associated with debilitating side effects (e.g., anorexia, weight loss, and fatigue) that adversely affect patient quality of life and increase mortality. However, the mechanisms underlying taxane chemotherapy-induced side effects, and effective treatments to ameliorate them, are not well-established. Here, we tested the longitudinal relationship between a clinically-relevant paclitaxel regimen, inflammation, and sickness behaviors (loss of body mass, anorexia, fever, and fatigue) in adult, female mice. Furthermore, we sought to identify the extent to which voluntary exercise (wheel running) attenuates paclitaxel-induced sickness behaviors and underlying central pathways. Body mass and food intake decreased following six doses of chemotherapy treatment relative to vehicle controls, lasting less than 5 days after the last dose. Paclitaxel treatment also transiently decreased locomotion (open field test), voluntary wheel running, home-cage locomotion, and core body temperature without affecting motor coordination (rotarod task). Circulating interleukin (IL)-6 and hypothalamic Il1b gene expression remained elevated in chemotherapy-treated mice at least 3 days after the last dose. Exercise intervention did not ameliorate fatigue or inflammation, but hastened recovery from paclitaxel-induced weight loss. Body mass recovery was associated with the wheel running-induced recovery of body composition, paclitaxel-induced alterations to hypothalamic melanocortin signaling, and associated peripheral circulating hormones (ghrelin and leptin). The present findings demonstrate the benefits of exercise on faster recovery from paclitaxel-induced body mass loss and deficits in melanocortin signaling and suggests the development of therapies targeting the melanocortin pathway to reduce paclitaxel-induced weight loss.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 113041 |
Journal | Behavioural Brain Research |
Volume | 399 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 5 2021 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors thank Dr. Michelle Basso, Lesley Fisher, Browning Haynes, Ashley Lahoud, Jasskiran Kaur, Wesley Wang, and Jaimie Gray for their technical assistance. We also thank Dr. Stacey Meeker, Megan Fleming, and Cindy Fairbanks for animal husbandry. We would like to acknowledge the Small Animal Imaging Core at The Ohio State University who provided access and use of the EchoMRI analyzer used in this study. This work was supported by The Ohio State University Medical Center (L.P.), a Pelotonia Graduate Fellowship (K.S.), a Pelotonia Undergraduate Fellowship (S.V.), and National Institutes of Health grant CA216290 (L.P.). The authors thank Dr. Michelle Basso, Lesley Fisher, Browning Haynes, Ashley Lahoud, Jasskiran Kaur, Wesley Wang, and Jaimie Gray for their technical assistance. We also thank Dr. Stacey Meeker, Megan Fleming, and Cindy Fairbanks for animal husbandry. We would like to acknowledge the Small Animal Imaging Core at The Ohio State University who provided access and use of the EchoMRI analyzer used in this study. This work was supported by The Ohio State University Medical Center (L.P.), a Pelotonia Graduate Fellowship (K.S.), a Pelotonia Undergraduate Fellowship (S.V.), and National Institutes of Health grant CA216290 (L.P.).
Keywords
- Antineoplastic
- Cytokines
- Exercise
- Ghrelin
- Leptin
- Neuroinflammation