Scientists from the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, show that a hormone known to prevent weight-gain may also prevent muscle-loss. The results of the study were published in the American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism and discuss the beneficial effects of the hormone, MOTS-c, which is also a mitochondrial-derived peptide.
The authors of the study demonstrate for the very first time "that MOTS-c modulates the CK2-PTEN-AKT-FOXO1 pathway to inhibit myostatin expression and muscle wasting,"
"Knowing the signaling pathway affected by MOTS-c is really important to the discovery of possible treatments," says corresponding author Su Jeong Kim, a research associate professor at the USC Leonard Davis School. "This insight provides a target for potential drug development efforts and can be rapidly translated into clinical trials of MOTS-c and related analogues."
"Taken together, our work suggests that MOTS-c can address mitochondrial dysfunction," says Pinchas Cohen, professor of gerontology, medicine and biological sciences and dean of the USC Leonard Davis School.
"This study can help improve healthy aging by opening up new avenues for research on how to treat conditions such as insulin resistance-induced skeletal muscle atrophy as well as other muscle-wasting conditions, including sarcopenia."
Source: Science Daily
