The fatigue and lack of motivation that many cancer patients experience near the end of life have been seen as the unavoidable consequences of their declining physical health and extreme weight loss. But new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis challenges that long-held assumption, showing instead that these behavioral changes stem from specific inflammation-sensing neurons in the brain.
In a study published April 11 in Science, the researchers report that they identified a direct connection between cancer-related inflammation and the loss of motivation characteristic of advanced cancer. Studying mice with cancer-linked cachexia, a condition typical of the disease that leads to muscle wasting and weight loss, they discovered a previously unrecognized pathway in the brain….