Fig. 8: Suppression of Il6ra expression in AP neurons attenuates cachexia in the pancreatic cancer model.

a A schematic of the experimental procedure. b Normalized bodyweight (BW; left), food intake (middle), and water intake (right). Bodyweight was normalized to the initial bodyweight when tumor was implanted. Bodyweight, F(1,130) = 0.0021, P = 0.96. Food intake, F(1,60) = 41.91, ****P = 1.96 × 10⁻⁸. Water intake, F(1,60) = 69.55, ****P = 1.3 × 10⁻¹¹. n = 5 and 7 mice in lacZ sgRNA (control) group and Il6ra sgRNA-4 group, respectively. Two-way RM ANOVA with Sidak’s post hoc test. c The effects of suppressing Il6ra expression (n = 5 and 7 mice in lacZ sgRNA (control) group and Il6ra sgRNA-4 group, respectively; muscle, t = 5.51, ***P = 0.0003; fat, t = 4.37, **P = 0.0014; tumor, t = 0.26, P = 0.8014; spleen, t = 0.574, P = 0.5786, unpaired t test). d Confocal immunohistochemical images showing Fos expression in different brain areas in control group (top) and in Il6ra knock-down group (bottom). e Quantification of Fos expression in different brain areas (n = 5 and 7 mice in lacZ sgRNA (control) group and Il6ra sgRNA-4 group, respectively; AP, t = 7.58, ****P = 1.88 × 10⁻⁵; NTS, t = 2.07, P = 0.0656; PBN, t = 6.78, ****P = 4.84 × 10⁻⁵; PVN, t = 4.4, **P = 0.0013; CeA, t = 4.64, ***P = 0.0009; BNST, t = 3.41, **P = 0.0066. Unpaired t test). AP, area postrema; NTS, nucleus tractus solitarii; PBN, parabrachial nucleus; PVN, paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus; CeA, central amygdala; BNST, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Data in b, c, e are presented as mean ± s.e.m. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.