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.