New study, conducted by scientists from the University of Washington Medical School in St. Louis, revealed, that gene therapy can help with obesity and build muscle without the need for additional exercise.
Follistatin is a protein that affects a number of cellular processes, including muscle proliferation. Previous animal studies have shown that gene therapy designed to enhance the expression of follistatin may inhibit the development of some degenerative muscle diseases. A new study examined whether this type of therapy can help treat osteoarthritis by increasing muscle mass and reducing the metabolic syndrome associated with obesity.
“Obesity is the most common risk factor for osteoarthritis,” explains Farsheed Gilak, lead author. “Being overweight can interfere with exercise and benefit from sports therapy.”
The study was conducted on mice. The animals were fed high-fat foods, and scientists also observed the progression of post-traumatic osteoarthritis. During the experiment, the mice received a single treatment with gene therapy, designed to increase the expression of follistatin.
As a result, specialists noticed that the animals build muscle without gaining extra weight, despite the fact that they are fed with foods high in fat and do not give physical activity higher than usual. Gene therapy markedly mitigated cartilage degeneration, inflammation of the synovial membrane associated with joint damage and osteoarthritis.
It is not the first time that treatment with follistatin has been proposed to combat human diseases. Protein is seen as a potential treatment for cancer, kidney disease, and cystic fibrosis. A first-phase human study testing the safety of gene therapy with follistatin showed that treatment does not cause any side effects, but the effectiveness at this stage is unclear.
New work suggests that such therapy generates a number of multifactorial effects, not only affecting muscle mass, but also on broad metabolic activity, which can resist the absorption of calories in high-fat diets.
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