Muscle Wasting News and Research

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New gene-delivering workhorse could make gene therapy safer, more effective for muscle diseases

Genetic muscle diseases lead to progressive muscle wasting and often early death, with few treatment options and no cure.

9 Sep 2021

Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells show promise to treat muscular dystrophies

Results of a compassionate-use study released in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine show promising results for treating muscular dystrophies with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from Wharton's jelly (WJ), a substance found in the umbilical cord. Led by doctors at Klara Medical Center (KMC), Czestochowa, Poland, these WJ-MSC treatments resulted in significant improvement in several body muscles in most of the patients, with no serious side effects.

27 Jul 2021

An antioxidative stress regulator helps keep muscles from becoming weak in low gravity

Most kids dream of growing up to be astronauts; but the downside of spending extended amounts of time in low gravity is that astronauts' muscles tend to shrink and weaken through disuse. Now, researchers from Japan have identified a protein that affects how muscles respond to space flight.

7 Jul 2021

Researchers discover a molecular pathway that triggers fatal cardiac atrophy

In many situations, heart muscle cells do not respond to external stresses in the same ways that skeletal muscle cells do. But under some conditions, heart and skeletal muscles can both waste away at fatally rapid rates, according to a new study led by experts at Cincinnati Children's.

24 Jun 2021

Oligo DNA improves differentiation of skeletal muscles exacerbated by diabetes

Skeletal muscle is the largest organ in the body that accounts for 30 to 40% of body weight and is responsible for multiple functions such as energy metabolism and heat production.

27 May 2021

Girls more likely to develop metabolic alterations associated with obesity than boys

A study of 92 adolescents conducted in Brazil suggests girls are more likely than boys to develop metabolic alterations associated with obesity, such as high blood pressure and excessive blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides (dyslipidemia).

12 May 2021

Drug cocktail can effectively activate and expand muscle stem cells

Skeletal muscle – the type of muscle that attaches to bones and enables movement – is the most abundant tissue in the human body.

27 Apr 2021

Physician-scientist Dr. David Lyden elected into Association of American Physicians

Weill Cornell Medicine physician-scientist Dr. David Lyden, whose research has led to groundbreaking discoveries about how cancer spreads, has been elected into the esteemed Association of American Physicians.

27 Apr 2021

Study sheds new light on the ability of pancreatic cancer cells to metastasize

With an overall survival rate of 9% for those diagnosed, pancreatic cancer remains exceedingly difficult to treat. However, the patient's primary tumor typically isn't what leads to death - it is the cancer's ability to evade detection and metastasize to other organs.

19 Apr 2021

Stem cell therapy could help restore debilitating age-related muscle loss

As the name implies, induced pluripotent stem cells can become any type of cell in our body, and scientists have evidence that when they prompt them to become muscle progenitor cells they can help restore the sometimes debilitating muscle loss that happens with age.

23 Mar 2021

Hormone known to prevent weight gain can help maintain healthy muscles in mice

A new study suggests that a hormone known to prevent weight gain and normalize metabolism can also help maintain healthy muscles in mice.

23 Feb 2021

Study gives new clues to how muscle wasting occurs on a cellular level

Muscle wasting, or the loss of muscle tissue, is a common problem for people with cancer, but the precise mechanisms have long eluded doctors and scientists. Now, a new study led by Penn State researchers gives new clues to how muscle wasting happens on a cellular level.

3 Feb 2021

New process separates beneficial glucocorticoids from unwanted side-effects

A collaboration led by Scripps Research has developed a way to separate the beneficial anti-inflammatory properties of a group of steroids called glucocorticoids from some of their unwanted side-effects, through an optimization process they named "ligand class analysis."

3 Feb 2021

Using gene therapy to mimic the effects of physical exercise

It sounds too good to be true - and it is. But Jose Bianco Moreira and the CERG research group at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology are convinced that some of the positive health effects of physical exercise can be achieved using gene therapy and medication.

21 Jan 2021

Short term “prehabilitation” strength exercises, undertaken pre-surgery, do not prevent muscle loss

Older adults about to undergo elective surgery should undertake a sustained programme of targeted exercise beforehand to counteract the muscle-wasting effects of bedrest, new research suggests.

21 Dec 2020

Study unlocks some muscle cell secrets

A muscle fiber consists of just one cell, but many nuclei. A team at the MDC led by Professor Carmen Birchmeier has now shown just how varied these nuclei are.

11 Dec 2020

Using gene therapy to achieve the positive health effects of physical exercise

Gene therapy is the most effective method to be able to provide health benefits you normally gain through physical exercise.

5 Dec 2020

Adding exercise to genetic treatment reverses fatigue in mice with common myotonic dystrophy

Adding exercise to a genetic treatment for myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) was more effective at reversing fatigue than administering the treatment alone in a study using a mouse model of the disease.

30 Nov 2020

Inflammatory factors that aggravate COVID-19 may come from adipose tissue

There is growing evidence that adipose tissue plays a key role in the aggravation of COVID-19. One of the theories under investigation is that fat cells (adipocytes) act as a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 and increase viral load in obese or overweight individuals.

20 Nov 2020

Researchers develop novel therapeutic approach against COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common and deadliest diseases worldwide.

4 Nov 2020