Cancer cachexia syndrome contributes to wasting and
weight loss leading to inefficacy of anticancer
therapy. In this study, the anticatabolic agent
beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) was supplemented to adult Walker 256
tumor-bearing rats during 8 weeks aiming to determine if
tumor burden could be reduced. Male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to nontumor and
tumor-bearing groups and fed regular chow or regular chow plus HMB supplemented (76 mg/kg
body weight).
Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate supplementation induced a lower
tumor weight and
tumor cell proliferation ex vivo, totally prevented glycemia reduction, as well as blunted the increase in the serum
lactate concentrations and also preserved
glycogen stores in
tumor-bearing rats. Reduction in
tumor cell proliferation ex vivo was accompanied by increased
nuclear factor-kappaB inhibitor-alpha content by more than 100%. In contrast,
nuclear factor-kappaB p65 subunit content was suppressed by 17% with HMB supplementation. In conclusion, HMB supplementation, at a similar dose used in humans to increase muscle mass, caused antitumor and anticachectic effects, with
tumor-cell
nuclear factor-kappaB pathway participation, which might be a potential nutritional strategy in
cancer therapy.