Nutritional status and cytokine concentration during chemotherapy in Mexican children: A longitudinal analysis

Nutrition
Lourdes Barbosa-CortésAndrea Tapia-Marcial

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess whether the nutritional status of children with cancer is influenced by variations in cytokine concentrations observed during chemotherapy. We also evaluated whether this relationship could be modified by nutritional status at diagnosis and type of cancer. Mexican children with lymphoma or solid tumors were evaluated at diagnosis and at 2- and 6-mo follow-up visits. Blood samples were obtained to determine serum prealbumin, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, leptin concentrations, and hemoglobin. Children were classified as undernourished (UN) or well nourished (WN), according to prealbumin concentration. The influence of each cytokine on prealbumin concentration was analyzed by time-series regression model. Fifty patients (ages 2-17 y) were enrolled. There were 17 children with lymphomas and 33 with solid tumors. At baseline, 56% were UN and 26% presented anemia; the frequencies of UN children were higher for those with lymphoma than for those with a solid tumor (P = 0.003). By nutritional status, UN children presented lower leptin (P = 0.002) but higher IL-6 concentrations (P = 0.009) than the WN group. Children with lymphoma presented lower prealbumin (P = 0.003), but highe...Continue Reading

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