Table 6.

Rectus abdominis myosin heavy chain content and mean muscle fibre area of cancer patients

	All	Male	Female	P value
A. MyHc content by electrophoresisa (% ± SD N = 40 M/n = 8 F)
MyHC I (%)	39.3 ± 11.1	39.1 ± 10.3	40.6 ± 15.6	0.73
MyHC IIA (%)	38.4 ± 11.1	37.5 ± 10.0	42.6 ± 15.7	0.24
MyHC IID (%)	22.3 ± 8.9	23.4 ± 8.6	16.8 ± 9.1	0.06
B. MyHc content by immunohistochemistrya (% ± SD N = 20 M/n = 10 F)
MyHC isoforms (%)
MyHC type I	47.1 ± 13.0	47.0 ± 12.6	47.3 ± 14.6	0.91
MyHC type IIA	51.8 ± 13.4	52.4 ± 12.6	50.5 ± 15.6	0.53
MyHC type IID	16.7 ± 14.3	19.2 ± 13.7	11.8 ± 15.1	0.19
All Hybridsb	15.5 ± 13.5	18.5 ± 13.5	9.6 ± 12.2	0.08
Individual fibre types (%)
Fibre type I	46.4 ± 12.9	48.9 ± 9.4	46.2 ± 14.2	0.32
Fibre type I/IIA	0.7 ± 1.0	0.6 ± 0.9	1.2 ± 1.6	0.15
Fibre type IIA	36.1 ± 9.5	35.7 ± 9.4	40.7 ± 9.6	0.71
Fibre type IIA/D	15.0 ± 13.7	13.1 ± 12.4	8.5 ± 12.9	0.39
Fibre type IID	1.8 ± 4.6	1.7 ± 3.7	3.4 ± 7.3	0.32
C. Mean muscle fibre area (μm2) (% ± SD N = 20 M/n = 10 F)
All fibres	3236 ± 1390	3784 ± 1285	2139 ± 854	<0.05
MyHC isoforms (μm2)
MyHC type I	2323 ± 944	2591 ± 970	1786 ± 635	<0.05
MyHC type IIA	4009 ± 1937	4848 ± 1725	2331 ± 1054	<0.05
MyHC type IID	4026 ± 2060	4722 ± 1895	2461 ± 1546	<0.05
Individual fibre types (μm2)
Fibre type I	2325 ± 941	2591 ± 970	1795 ± 633	<0.05
Fibre type I/IIA	2253 ± 1209	2726.6 ± 1181	1306 ± 528	<0.05
Fibre type IIA	3940 ± 1970	4760 ± 1820	2299 ± 1012	<0.05
Fibre type IIA/D	4012 ± 2055	4833.5 ± 1841	2266 ± 1268	<0.05
Fibre type IID	5243 ± 2407	5323 ± 2553	4729 ± 1524	0.75

MyHC: myosin heavy chain.

^aThere were no differences in age, BMI, metastasis, chemotherapy exposure, co‐morbidities, nor smoking history between men and women.

^bAll hybrids refer to fibres of mixed myosin heavy chain isoforms MyHC type I/IIA and MyHC type I.