Cancer

Cardiac and skeletal muscle wasting

Cachexia or wasting consists of the progressive loss of fat, but most remarkably muscular mass, resulting in a loss of skeletal and cardiorespiratory fitness. Several clinical studies suggest that development of cachexia is associated with a very poor cancer outcome, leading to the idea that cachexia is the main reason of death in many types of cancer. Unfortunately, we still do not fully understand how this loss of muscle comes to pass.

Our research focuses on the idea that tumors release factors that activate some cells of the immune system which, in turn, release other signals that cause the muscles to shrink.

Drug Cardiotoxicity

The increase of available drugs designed to treat recalcitrant diseases, such as cancer or autoimmunity, have also been associated with an increased diagnostic of patients with cardiotoxicity. A wide range of substances, including venoms, heavy metals and most significantly therapeutic drugs, can promote cardiac damage.

We are interested in studying the pathophysiology of immune-mediated drug cardiotoxicity.