Can Irisin be a New Agent Responsible for the Development of Heart Attack and Cardiac Cachexia?

Cardiac cachexia, a syndrome characterized by systemic destruction, nutritional impairment and weight loss [1], has a prevalence ranging between 8 and 42% around the world [2]. The syndrome was first described by the father of medicine, Hippocrates, as follows: “the flesh is consumed and becomes water; shoulders, clavicles, chest and thighs melt away. The illness is fatal” [3]. Currently the most widely accepted description of primary cachexia is, in the presence of congestive heart failure, nonvoluntary loss of >6% of non-edematous body weight in less than 6 months [1,3,4].