Muscle Atrophy News and Research

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Study raises the prospect of new therapies to delay muscle atrophy

Muscle decline caused by aging and certain diseases could be dramatically slowed by stopping a chain reaction that damages cells, new research shows.

10 Jun 2019

Newly approved gene therapy for SMA is based on delivery vehicle discovered by Penn expert

James Wilson, MD, PhD, recalls being struck by the devastating toll of rare diseases as a young physician in the 1980s. He set out on a path to correct the genes that cause these conditions, including spinal muscle atrophy (SMA), the most common inherited fatal disease in infants.

25 May 2019

Researchers develop stem cell-based model to study neuron resilience and vulnerability in ALS

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have developed a stem cell-based model in order to study the resilience and vulnerability of neurons in the neurodegenerative disease ALS.

9 May 2019

Regular endurance exercise leads to high Nrf2 nuclear translocation, DNA binding activity

Skeletal muscle mass and function becomes progressively compromised with aging, chronic disease, and physical inactivity.

26 Apr 2019

Cholesterol lowering drug can also help treat cancer-associated cachexia

Brazilian researchers have discovered that a drug regularly prescribed to control cholesterol can also be used to treat cachexia, or wasting syndrome, a condition characterized by rapid weight loss and muscle atrophy associated with extreme physical weakness.

19 Mar 2019

Mechanism behind how diabetes causes muscle loss revealed

Diabetes mellitus is associated with various health problems including decline in skeletal muscle mass. A research group led by Professor Wataru Ogawa at the Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine revealed that elevation of blood sugar levels leads to muscle atrophy and that two proteins, WWP1 and KLF15, play key roles in this phenomenon.

23 Feb 2019

Intense exercise, fasting and hormones can enhance waste-protein removal, study shows

The body's ability to adapt to changing conditions and shifting physiologic demands is essential to survival. To do so, each cell must be able to dispose of damaged or unnecessary proteins--a quality-control mechanism critical for cellular performance and for the health of the entire organism.

21 Feb 2019

BGU develops new AI platform for monitoring and predicting ALS progression

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) platform for monitoring and predicting progression of neurodegenerative diseases to help identify markers for personalized patient care and improve drug development.

20 Feb 2019

Astronauts who spend several months on spaceflight have lasting effects on paraspinal muscles

Astronauts who spend several months on the International Space Station have significant reductions in the size and density of paraspinal muscles of the trunk after returning to Earth, reports a study in Spine. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

10 Jan 2019

Critically ill children experience muscle atrophy within one week of mechanical ventilation

Children with life-threatening respiratory failure who require mechanical ventilation in a pediatric intensive care unit commonly experience rapid muscle atrophy, according to a study published online Dec. 19, 2018, in PLOS ONE.

24 Dec 2018

Researchers present mechanisms, cellular targets involved with effects of TGF-Beta 1 muscle

The innate immune system comprises of various soluble factors that provide the first line of defense against pathogens.

21 Dec 2018

New compound blocks genetic cause of familial ALS and frontotemporal dementia

Since the ice bucket challenge went viral in 2014, raising awareness and funding for ALS research, scientists have learned much about a disease that disconnects muscles from nerves, leading to muscle atrophy and eventual death. Their ultimate goal is to create medications capable of stopping ALS in its tracks.

18 Dec 2018

Researchers identify molecule to fight myotubular myopathy

Myotubular myopathy is a severe genetic disease that leads to muscle paralysis from birth and results in death before two years of age. Although no treatment currently exists, researchers from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, - working in collaboration with the University of Strasbourg, France, - have identified a molecule that not only greatly reduces the progression of the disease but also boosts life expectancy in animal models by a factor of seven.

19 Nov 2018

Long spaceflight causes structural changes in the brain

Spending long periods in space not only leads to muscle atrophy and reductions in bone density, it also has lasting effects on the brain. However, little is known about how different tissues of the brain react to exposure to microgravity, and it remains unclear whether and to what extent the neuroanatomical changes so far observed persist following return to normal gravity.

25 Oct 2018

Study: Chemotherapy drugs may promote muscle mitochondrial dysfunction

Chemotherapy drugs to treat breast cancer may promote muscle mitochondrial dysfunction, according to new research. Dysfunctional mitochondria, the energy centers of the cells, may contribute to fatigue and weakness that some people with breast cancer experience through the course of disease treatment.

5 Oct 2018

Genentech announces clinical data from studies investigating risdiplam in spinal muscular atrophy

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, announced today interim clinical data from the dose-finding parts of the pivotal FIREFISH and SUNFISH studies investigating risdiplam in spinal muscular atrophy.

3 Oct 2018

Study findings highlight importance of early detection of SMA through newborn screening

Spinal muscular atrophy is a genetic disease that affects motor neurons in the spinal cord, resulting in muscle atrophy and widespread weakness that eventually impair swallowing and breathing.

17 Jul 2018

Novel therapeutic approach alleviates ALS-related muscular atrophy in mouse models

Supplementing a single protein found in the spinal cord could help prevent symptoms of Lou Gehrig's disease, according to a new study out of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

12 Jul 2018

Scientists focus on critical regulatory protein to find clues on cancer, neurodegenerative diseases

James McNew's and Michael Stern's biochemical hunt for the root cause of a rare, paralyzing genetic disorder is a 10-year quest that's taken an unexpected turn toward everyday killers such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer and aging.

30 Jun 2018

Studying The Effects of Microgravity on Muscle Mass

Studying the effects of gravity on muscle cells can give us an insight into muscle wastage diseases, and potentially guide the development of new therapies. Professor Louis Yuge discusses his research and the cellular changes that occur in response to microgravity.

25 Jun 2018