Brown Adipose Tissue Activity in Relation to Weight Gain During Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Weight gain has been reported in early stage breast cancer patients during chemotherapy, but the involved mechanisms remain unclear. A chemotherapy-induced decrease of brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity may partly contribute to weight gain in these patients. A positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan was performed at baseline and after 1 course of docetaxel + trastuzumab treatment in 26 breast cancer women. Variation of the maximal standardized uptake value of BAT in the cervical and supraclavicular regions between the 2 measures was assessed according to weight changes. Overall, ¹⁸F-FDG uptakes in BAT decreased by 11.3% after 1 course of chemotherapy (p = 0.03). No correlation was found between the baseline values of ¹⁸F-FDG uptake and body mass index or age of patients, but as expected ¹⁸F-FDG uptake was dependent on season period. Among the patients, 35% gained weight, 25% lost weight, and 40% remained stable. Women who gained weight during chemotherapy experienced a significant decrease of ¹⁸F-FDG uptake in BAT (p = 0.005). Decreased activity of BAT was associated with body weight gain during chemotherapy. These original data suggest for the first time that BAT modulation by chemotherapy would be a potential contributor to body weight gain through blunted thermogenesis in breast cancer patients.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by Jean Perrin Comprehensive Cancer Center. The research was performed at Jean Perrin Center in Clermont-Ferrand. We would like to thank Roche for allowing us to use the PET/CT scan data.