Cancer cachexia modifies the zonal distribution of lipid metabolism-related proteins in rat liver

Cancer cachexia is a syndrome that causes profound metabolic disruption. Lipid metabolism in the liver is markedly affected. We investigated the effect of cachexia upon liver-acinus lipid-metabolism zonation in Walker 245 carcinosarcoma-bearing rats (TB). The expression of protein (by Western blotting) and mRNA (by semi-quantitative polymerase chain reaction) of the enzymes of the carnitine palmitoyltransferase system (CPT I and CPT II) and of liver fatty-acid-binding protein (L-FABP) was studied. Although no changes were found for these parameters, the maximal activities (by radioassay) of CPT I and II were reduced (P