MSTN and cancer: However, plasma levels of MSTN are not always correlated with muscle loss in human cancer patients (Loumaye et al., 2015), and genetic deletion of MSTN or its acute inhibition using trichostatin A or FST does not always have a preventive effect against cancer cachexia in experimental rodents (Bonetto et al., 2009; Benny Klimek et al., 2010).