Cachexia, and not obesity, prior to pancreatic cancer diagnosis worsens survival and is negated by chemotherapy

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the 4th leading cause of cancer deaths (1) and is projected to become the second by 2020. Despite advances in the treatment and management of this malignancy, 5-year survival is still only 7%. Patients who have early stage disease are often those with the best outcomes (2,3). Therefore, increased attention has been paid to known risk factors for this disease including family history (4,5), diabetes (6,7) and obesity