The paper reviews early evidence that BPC‑157, a peptide found in stomach juice, might help reverse the severe muscle and fat loss seen in cancer cachexia. It explains how the peptide could protect tissues and reduce inflammation, but the data are still pre‑clinical and no human dosing guidelines exist yet.

Cancer cachexia, one of the metabolic syndromes caused by cancer, is a devastating and miserable condition encountered in more than 50% of terminal cancer patients presenting with significant weight loss associated with skeletal muscle atrophy and fat loss. Though cachexia may account for up to 20% of cancer deaths, no significant treatment is still lacking and is of urgent unmet medical need in cancer treatment. Therefore, understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms is essential for anticipating therapeutic approaches. Since the primary events driving cachexia are mediated via either the central nervous system relatedor inflammation related-anorexia, hypoanabolism, and hypercatabolism, therapy usually targets nutritional support to compensate reduced food intake along with some anti-inflammatory agents to cover specific inflammation-related metabolic derangement, and encourages exercise to supplement reduced physical activity, but all proven to be not so effective so far. Therefore, combination therapies such as a standard multi-modal package including an anorexic agent, megestrol acetate, and anti-inflammatory agent coupled with the development of potential novel therapeutics promise a new era in rescuing patients from cancer cachexia. In this review, we propose the potential application of BPC157, one of the active cytoprotective agents isolated from gastric juices for cancer cachexia. Before clinical trial, we introduced the evidence showing BPC157 rescued from cancer cachexia supported with explored mode of actions.