Muscle Wasting News and Research

RSS

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

UCLA researchers discover compound that stimulates muscle cells in mice

UCLA researchers have identified a compound that can reproduce the effect of exercise in muscle cells in mice. The findings are published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.

21 Oct 2020

Serious ongoing symptoms in COVID-19 survivors

Although predominantly a respiratory illness, emerging data suggests that multi-organ injury is common, particularly in moderate to severe infections. A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in October 2020 describes the illness's sequelae in the months after recovery.

20 Oct 2020

Study offers renewed hope for children suffering from myofibrillar myopathies

Stephen Greenspan and Laura Zah were devastated when they learned their son Alexander had a rare genetic mutation, which causes a deadly neuromuscular disease with no known treatment or cure.

14 Oct 2020

Neurobiologists decode central mechanism of degenerative processes in brains of mouse models

Heidelberg neurobiologists decode central mechanism of degenerative processes in the brains of mouse models and develop new principle for therapeutic agents

9 Oct 2020

Study uncovers a promising new therapeutic approach for Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome have shown that pharmacological (drug) correction of the content of extracellular vesicles released within dystrophic muscles can restore their ability to regenerate muscle and prevent muscle scarring (fibrosis).

15 Sep 2020

RCas9 gene therapy clears toxic RNA buildup in mouse model of myotonic dystrophy

Myotonic dystrophy type I is the most common type of adult-onset muscular dystrophy. People with the condition inherit repeated DNA segments that lead to the toxic buildup of repetitive RNA, the messenger that carries a gene's recipe to the cell's protein-making machinery.

14 Sep 2020

Ghrelin may help protect the elderly population from muscle loss

The hormone, ghrelin, may help protect the elderly population from muscle loss, according to a study being presented at e-ECE 2020. The study found that administering a particular form of ghrelin to older mice helped to restore muscle mass and strength.

8 Sep 2020

FDA approves first oral drug for treatment of spinal muscular atrophy

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Evrysdi (risdiplam) to treat patients two months of age and older with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a rare and often fatal genetic disease affecting muscle strength and movement.

7 Aug 2020

Buck researchers investigate ketone bodies as possible therapeutic against COVID-19

Given the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 has on older adults in terms of death and lasting disability, and the impact of common aging-related comorbidities like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, Buck Institute professor and practicing geriatrician John Newman, MD, PhD, can make a compelling argument that those infected with the SARS-CoV2 virus are suffering from an aging-related disease, no matter how old they are when they get infected.

15 Jul 2020