Stimulation of the nicotine antiinflammatory pathway improves food intake and body composition in tumor-bearing rats.

Inflammation contributes to the pathogenesis of cancer anorexia-cachexia syndrome. Nicotine administration reduces cytokine levels and mortality during sepsis. Therefore, nicotine administration may result in improved anorexia-cachexia. Sixteen male Fischer rats inoculated with MCA sarcoma were assigned to random injections of nicotine (NIC; 200 mg/kg BW/d) or saline (C). Food intake (FI), body weight, body composition, interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6 levels were evaluated. Data were analyzed via Student's t-test for paired and unpaired data and ANOVA. FI started declining 12 days after tumor inoculation both in C and NIC rats, but the decline was significantly attenuated by nicotine administration. At the end of the study, lean body mass wasting was more severe in C rats than in NIC rats (P<0.05), whereas a trend toward attenuation of fat mass depletion was observed. IL-1 circulating levels were significantly lower in NIC rats than in C rats (114±21 pg/mL vs. 190±35 pg/mL, respectively; P<0.01), whereas the reduction of IL-6 levels in NIC rats was only marginally not significant when compared to C rats (555±174 pg/mL vs. 721±160 pg/mL, respectively; P=0.06). Our data suggest that the nicotinic antiinflammatory pathway may represent an interesting and possibly effective therapy for anorexia-cachexia syndrome.