Similarly, also systemic ACVR2B blockade by sACVR2B, despite being effective in ameliorating cachexia, was not able to prolong survival in these hosts, whereas it prolonged life in mice implanted with pancreatic cancer cells expressing low activin A. The authors speculated that the lack of effects on survival in mice expressing muscle-specific dominant negative ACVR2B was possibly due to a critical role of activin signaling in other tissues, which were not directly targeted by the muscle-specific intervention. This evidence concerns the gene ACVR2B and familial pancreatic carcinoma.