Muscles are a vital part of the body that enable us to walk, run, lift, and do everyday activities. When muscles start to deteriorate, we start to have difficulty performing these activities, which severely limits quality of life and autonomy. Typically, this becomes more commonplace as we age and is known as sarcopenia, which affects nearly ten percent of adults over the age of 50 and nearly half of individuals in their 80s.
However, there are other instances where this happens much more rapidly and early on due to genetic disease. These are commonly known as muscular dystrophies, which consist of more than 30 genetic diseases characterized by progressive muscle weakness and degeneration. A cure does not currently exist.
Regardless of the cause of the muscle deterioration, scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys have uncovered how to potentially promote growth inside stem cells found within the muscle, thereby promoting muscle growth. In a mouse model study funded in part by CIRM and published in Nature Communications, Dr. Alessandra Sacco, senior author of the paper, and her team describe how a signaling pathway, along with a specific protein, can help regulate what muscle stem cells do.
Muscle stem cells can do two things, they either become adult muscle cells or self-renew to replenish the stem cell population. The paper discusses how the signaling pathway and specific protein are crucial for muscle stem cell differentiation and muscle growth, both of which are needed to prevent deterioration. Their aim is to use this knowledge to develop therapeutic targets that can aid with muscle growth.
Dr. Alessandra Sacco is quoted in an article as saying,
“Muscle stem cells can ‘burn out’ trying to regenerate tissue during the natural aging process or due to chronic muscle disease. We believe we have found promising drug targets that direct muscle stem cells to ‘make the right decision’ and stimulate muscle repair, potentially helping muscle tissue regeneration and maintaining tissue function in chronic conditions such as muscular dystrophy and aging.”
The Stem Cellar 
would this work for ALS ? My brother that lives in hawaii is in his early stage, he is 64, His right leg up to thighs theres no muscle or nerves, now it’s affecting his left side. Jasmine
Hi Jasmine, in theory it could help with developing a treatment for ALS. We are already funding a clinical trial for ALS with Brainstorm. Maybe your brother could try and sign up for that. Here’s a link to it: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03280056
Okay sounds good where do I sign up? clinical trials available? is it legal? Please let me know how I can be availed of this treatment.