The extracellular matrix (ECM) of the skeletal muscle provides the framework for the muscle structure and plays a key role in the repair and maintenance of myofibers through the resident fibroblasts and muscle satellite cells. However, excessive production of ECM components, notably collagen, leads to fibrosis which impedes muscle function, impairs the natural repair process, and leads to muscle weakness. Fibrosis is a hallmark of muscular dystrophies, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a terminal, x-linked disorder characterized by progressive muscle wasting as muscle fibers are replaced by fibrosis and fat. There are approximately 300,000 DMD patients worldwide, and the few disease modifying treatments are genotype specific, only helping a small percentage of the patient population. Myostatin is a member of the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) family of ligands, is a negative regulator of muscle mass, and may also contribute to the fibrotic environment in dystrophic muscle through myofibroblast proliferation and survival. Therefore, myostatin blockade could potentially ameliorate muscle weakness in DMD patients by increasing skeletal mass and function while also reducing the accumulation of fibrosis.
A murine anti-myostatin antibody, mRK35, and its humanized analogue, domagrozumab, are specific and potent inhibitors of myostatin. mRK35 was tested in multiple mouse models, from healthy C57Bl/6 and C57Bl/10, mildly dystrophic C57Bl/10.mdx, and severely dystrophic D2.mdx mice, for changes in muscle mass, muscle function, and fibrotic content. Additionally, inflammatory, fibrotic, and myogenic gene expression changes were analyzed in the severely dystrophic animals treated with mRK35. Domagrozumab was tested in non-human primates (NHPs) for changes in skeletal muscle mass.
Myostatin blockade with mRK35 resulted in muscle anabolic and functional improvements in healthy murine models and NHPs treated with domagrozumab demonstrated a dose-dependent increase in lean mass and muscle volume. However, as mice age or as the dystrophic severity of the model increases, the anabolic effect of myostatin inhibition is diminished. The extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle escapes this trend and is the most responsive to myostatin inhibition across all mouse strains and disease severities. However, analysis of the fibrotic content in the triceps and diaphragms of D2.mdx mice treated with mRK35 for 8 weeks does not reveal any change in fibrotic content. Gene expression changes in the muscles within these mice appear to be tightly tied to their healthy or dystrophic state and myostatin inhibition has minimal effect. In sum, while specific myostatin inhibition with mRK35 increases muscle weight and function in mice, there is no conclusive evidence of reduced muscle fibrosis. / 2023-06-22T00:00:00Z
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/42702 |
| Date | 22 June 2021 |
| Creators | St. Andre, Michael William |
| Contributors | Singh, Anurag |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
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