Patients’ biopsy specimens
The study was approved by the Ethics Committee in the Medical School of Nanjing University (IRB no.: 20200115003). All patients provided written informed consent. Cachexia was defined clinically as documented non-intentional dry weight loss of >5 kg (all >10% of their previous normal weight) at least in ≤3 months (10). All cachectic patients also complained of weight loss; patients’ skeletal biopsy specimens of abdominal muscles were obtained after hepatobiliary surgery. Control samples were acquired from patients undergoing elective orthopedic surgery. The information details of patients were listed in Table S1.