Benefit

Technology Description

Exercise is the most efficient was to promote physical and metabolic wellbeing, but there are several instances in which physical activity may be limited or patients may be completely immobile, such as long-term injury or severe nerve damage requiring prolonged hospital stays. Currently, there exist no FDA approved drugs to improve muscle energetics, resist injury and prevent muscle atrophy associated with hospital associated deconditioning (HAD).

Inventors at the University of Iowa have developed a therapeutic to improve the health and energetics of skeletal muscle. Administration of the muscle secreted peptide musclin can be used to treat a wide range of physical performance issues and injured/diseased states. Musclin administration increases exercise tolerance, promotes muscle growth, and increases muscle fiber oxidative phosphorylation. Therefore, musclin may be used as a therapeutic in healthy patients to enhance exercise performance and during sports rehabilitation to prevent muscle loss. Musclin can also be used to preserve or restore muscle mass when it would otherwise be lost due to immobility, such as hospitalization for severe illness or injuries, during space flight, in spinal cord or nerve injuries when the stimulation of muscle contractions is reduced, and in response to aging.

UIRF Case No. 2017-003

Stage of Development

Musclin administration to human myocytes demonstrates that musclin can promote signaling to preserve or restore anabolic capacity. In vivo work has been shown to increase muscle performance in wild type mice and restore muscle performance in musclin-deficient knockout mice and in a tumor transplant mouse model. 

Re Cecconi, Andrea D et al. “Musclin, A Myokine Induced by Aerobic Exercise, Retards Muscle Atrophy During Cancer Cachexia in Mice.” Cancers vol. 11,10 1541. 12 Oct. 2019, doi:10.3390/cancers11101541