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. 2022 Sep 17;15:135. doi: 10.1186/s13045-022-01349-6

Fig. 6.

Fig. 6

TGF-β-mediated host metabolism reprogramming in cancer. A Cancer is like a malignant organ that produces a large amount of TGF-β cytokine, then it circulates all over the host body including the liver, pancreas, and skeletal muscle. B In this way, TGF-β ligand resembles an endocrine factor and leads to hyperglycemia through 1. inducing β-cell apoptosis (verified) and 2. hepatic gluconeogenesis (hypothesized). 3. Cachexia is induced by TGF-β signaling by skeletal muscle proteolysis (verified). Pharmacologically or genetically inhibiting TGF-β signaling can attenuate these processes and reverse hyperglycemia and cachexia.