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Wither and Waste
09 May 2015

Wither and Waste

The beautiful flower on the left and its wilted counterpart on the right are in fact fruit fly ovaries – one healthy and one shrivelled by cancer. Such withering of tissues and organs – a condition known as cachexia – is often seen in humans with cancer too and is associated with diminished odds of surviving. Physically, cachexia patients appear similar to people with anorexia, but unlike the latter, simply eating more won’t reverse the problem. In fact scientists have little idea how to undo the damage or prevent it in the first place. Thanks to a fruit fly model of the disease, however, they’ve found an important clue: a protein secreted by malignant tumours that induces the tissue wasting. Furthermore, depleting the protein from tumours made the flies better. These results could point to physiological processes driving cachexia in cancer patients, and thus could ultimately aid the development of much needed treatments.

Written by Ruth Williams

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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