Whichever way weight goes, inflammation shows

Cachexia is a paradoxical state in which individuals in a starved state become anorectic and have increased metabolic rate, so that wasting of lean body mass ensues. The condition occurs in various chronic disease states such as HIV and is often associated with increased proinflammatory cytokine production. The Marks lab has pursued the notion that up-regulation of inflammatory cytokines, particularly within the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, is a fundamental cause of the resultant anorexia in states of cachexia.