Gene therapy with anabolic growth factors to prevent muscle atrophy

[Guest guest]

Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2006 May;9(3):207-13.

Gene therapy with anabolic growth factors to prevent muscle atrophy.

Schakman O, Thissen JP.

Department of Diabetology and Nutrition, Catholic University of

Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Many situations cause muscle atrophy. When severe,

muscle atrophy is associated with an increase in morbidity and

mortality. This loss of muscle mass is thought to be due to an

imbalance between catabolic and anabolic pathways, resulting in an

increase of muscle protein proteolysis and in a decrease in protein

synthesis. Changes in muscle levels of muscle growth factors are

thought to play a major role in this imbalance. Despite recent better

understanding of the metabolic and molecular derangements leading to

muscle wasting, therapy of muscle atrophy still has a poor success

rate.

RECENT FINDINGS: The recent demonstration that changes in local

growth factors, such as insulin-like growth factor-I and myostatin,

occur during muscle atrophy has stimulated research interest to

prevent muscle mass loss by delivering these growth factors or their

inhibitors into the muscle. During the last few years, several

advances in the field of muscle gene transfer, using electroporation

or recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors, have opened novel

therapeutic ways to deliver growth factors able to counteract the

loss of muscle mass.

SUMMARY: Preventing decrease of insulin-like growth factor-I muscle,

or inhibiting myostatin action by local genes over-expression, may

provide a clinically relevant avenue for the preservation,

attenuation or reversal of disease-related muscle loss.