Fig. 1

LCN2 is highly expressed in wasting tissues in lung cancer cachexia. A. Volcano plot of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) between the sera of cancer patients with cachexia and healthy controls, and non-cachectic lung cancer patients. n = 3 for each group. B. Heatmap showing the normalized levels of serum inflammatory proteins in lung cancer patients with cachexia vs. the levels in lung cancer patients without cachexia vs healthy controls. n = 3 for each group. C. Serum LCN2 concentrations in lung cancer patients with (n = 33) or without (n = 37) cachexia and in healthy controls (n = 32). D. Negative correlation between the LCN2 level, the body mass index (BMI), and the serum albumin concentration; and positive correlation between the LCN2 level and the serum concentrations of IL-6 and CRP. The Spearman correlation coefficient (r) and P-value are shown. E. Representative images of PDX-induced cachectic model mice and control mice. F. Representative images of iWAT, eWAT, and Gast. G. Serum LCN2 concentrations in mice with PDX-induced cachexia (n = 7) and control mice (n = 7). H. The Lnc2 mRNA levels in eWAT, iWAT, and Gast tissues for the indicated mice, assessed by qPCR. n = 5 per group. I–O. Experiments using a classic model of murine cachexia. Mice were inoculated with murine lung cancer cells (the LLC cell line) and monitored for up to 21 days. I. Representative images of cachectic and control mice. J. Weight of eWAT, iWAT, and Gast in these mouse groups. n = 6 per group. K. qPCR determination of Lcn2 mRNA levels in eWAT, iWAT and Gast. n = 5–8 per group. L. Representative H&E staining of iWAT, eWAT, and Gast. Scale bars, 100 μm. M. Volcano plot of DEPs in the sera of cachectic and control mice. N. Heatmap showing the normalized expression of the indicated inflammatory proteins in mice with cachexia compared with control mice. O. Monitoring of serum LCN2 concentrations for up to 21 days in mice bearing LLC tumors. n = 6 per group. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM. Statistical analyses were performed using one-way ANOVA (C, J, K, O) or unpaired Student’s t-tests (G, H)