For the past year, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in exchanges of fire alongside the ongoing conflict in Gaza. However, recent weeks have seen a significant escalation in hostilities. The continuous heavy shelling and artillery battles have severely disrupted medical facilities in the region.

According to The New York Times, more than 10,000 cancer patients still require immediate assistance, even though more than 4,000 patients have fled Gaza for medical treatment since the start of the conflict.

While undergoing therapy in Jordan, patients struggle with emotions of guilt and homesickness. Mohammed, a patient who was given a Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis in January 2023, went with his mother, Maha, who insisted on taking the family with them.

.@WHO and partners transferred 5 pediatric patients – four cancer patients and a patient with second degree burns – from Al-Ahli hospital yesterday to Nasser Medical Complex. They will continue receiving care there until the cancer patients are able to leave #Gaza for specialised… pic.twitter.com/YxamZekXr6

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) June 24, 2024

At the King Hussein Cancer Centre in Amman, the number of patients from Gaza has increased significantly. Patients live in a hotel nearby, fostering a sense of community. However, uncertainty looms over their futures as many fear returning to a devastated Gaza.

Hussam Shehadeh, another patient, reflects on his separation from his family in Gaza, expressing worries about their safety and his own health. Similarly, 13-year-old Mohammed Abdel Hadi faces emotional challenges after leaving his family behind. He locked himself in his room until a call from his mother persuaded him to continue treatment. As patients navigate their illnesses and the trauma of conflict, many hope to return to Gaza once the war ends, according to an NYT report.

New Delhi:

When tumours in cancer patients elevate levels of an immune system molecule called Interleukin-6 (IL-6), it can cause severe brain dysfunction, which leads to a lethal wasting disease called ‘cachexia’ in about 50 to 80 per cent of cancer patients, a new study said.

As per US-based Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s (CSHL) Professor Bo Li, “It’s a very severe syndrome”.

“Most people with cancer die of ‘cachexia’ instead of cancer. And once the patient enters this stage, there’s no way to go back because essentially there’s no treatment,” he said in a study published in the journal Nature Communications.

Li and other researchers in the team found that blocking ‘IL-6’ from binding to neurons in a part of the brain called the area postrema (AP) prevents cachexia in mice.

As a result, the mice live longer with healthier brain function.

“Future drugs targeting these neurons could help make cancer cachexia a treatable disease,” the researchers suggested.

In healthy patients, ‘IL-6’ plays a vital role in natural immune response. The molecules circulate throughout the body. When they encounter a possible threat, they alert the brain to coordinate a response.

According to the researchers, cancer disrupts this process as too much IL-6 gets produced, and it begins binding to AP neurons in the brain.

“That leads to several consequences. One is animals and humans alike will stop eating. Another is to engage this response that leads to the wasting syndrome,” Li said.

The team took a two-pronged approach to keeping elevated IL-6 out of the brain in mice. Their first strategy neutralised IL-6 with custom antibodies. The second used CRISPR to reduce the levels of IL-6 receptors in AP neurons. Both tactics produced the same results — the mice started eating again, stopped losing weight, and lived longer, the study noted.

“The brain is so powerful in regulating the peripheral system. Simply changing a small number of neurons in the brain has a profound effect on whole-body physiology. I knew there was an interaction between tumours and brain function, but not to this extent,” said Li.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)