LifeVantage Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: LFVN), the maker of Protandim®, a patented, science-based solution to oxidative stress, announced today that a peer-reviewed manuscript was published in the Journal of Dietary Supplements examining the beneficial effects of Protandim® on a mouse model of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), an X-linked inherited disease affecting one in 3,500 males. Symptoms usually appear before age 5, and progressive muscle weakness usually requires wheelchair use by age 12. The disease is usually fatal by the early twenties due to fibrosis-induced failure of the heart and diaphragm. Protandim® is a patented dietary supplement comprised of five highly synergistic herbal ingredients that activate the transcription factor Nrf2, a signal to the cell's DNA to regulate a network of protective genes.
Dr. Brian Tseng and his colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Colorado Denver, demonstrated the ability of Protandim® to suppress levels of both oxidative stress and fibrosis, which can lead to heart failure and other symptoms exhibited in DMD, while increasing the activity of a protective antioxidant enzyme called paraoxonase-1 (PON1) in the mdx mouse model of DMD.
The study, titled The Dietary Supplement Protandim® Decreases Plasma Osteopontin and Improves Markers of Oxidative Stress in Muscular Dystrophy Mdx Mice by M.M. Qureshi, W.C. McClure, N.L. Arevalo, R.E. Rabon, B. Mohr, S.K. Bose, J.M. McCord, and B.S. Tseng, documents a 48% decrease in plasma TBARS, a marker of lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress, a 57% decrease in plasma osteopontin, a fibrosis-promoting factor linked to heart failure, and a 35% increase in beneficial, protective plasma PON1 activity in those mice given Protandim® compared to those without Protandim®. PON1 is an enzyme thought to protect against atherosclerosis by preventing the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. The authors acknowledged several limitations of the study and its findings, including its preliminary nature and the relatively short six-month duration of the study.
Protandim®, a patented product developed by LifeVantage, has been shown in other studies, including an earlier human trial, to increase antioxidant enzyme production and to eliminate the age-dependent increase in the most widely used marker of oxidative stress. This new study demonstrates Protandim's® ability to decrease the body's production of harmful gene products such as osteopontin. This is in addition to its proven ability to increase production of the body's Nrf2-regulated protective genes, sometimes referred to as "survival genes." Thus, Protandim®, could provide benefits to the body that would extend beyond its proven ability to decrease oxidative stress by triggering the body to increase antioxidant protection.
"This study was independently funded by several groups including Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) and independently conducted by Dr. Tseng because of the DMD community's interest in exploring the unique properties of Protandim®," stated David Brown, LifeVantage President and CEO. "This interest arose initially from positive anecdotal reports communicated by parents of boys with DMD who were taking Protandim®. Scientists have long known of the involvement of oxidative stress in disease processes, and this study is a significant example of how oxidative stress plays a role in this devastating genetic disease."
The study is available online at www.informahealthcare.com and in print form in the Journal of Dietary Supplements, vol 7(2), pp. 159-178 (2010).
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