Systemic administration of monovalent follistatin-like 3-Fc-fusion protein increases muscle mass in mice

Autor: Takayuki Ozawa, Masato Morikawa, Yasuyuki Morishita, Kazuki Ogikubo, Fumiko Itoh, Daizo Koinuma, Per-Åke Nygren, Kohei Miyazono
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: iScience, Vol 24, Iss 5, Pp 102488- (2021)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2589-0042
DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102488
Popis: Summary: Targeting the signaling pathway of growth differentiation factor 8 (GDF8), also known as myostatin, has been regarded as a promising strategy to increase muscle mass in the elderly and in patients. Accumulating evidence in animal models and clinical trials has indicated that a rational approach is to inhibit a limited number of transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) family ligands, including GDF8 and activin A, without affecting other members. Here, we focused on one of the endogenous antagonists against TGF-β family ligands, follistatin-like 3 (FSTL3), which mainly binds and neutralizes activins, GDF8, and GDF11. Although bivalent human FSTL3 Fc-fusion protein was rapidly cleared from mouse circulation similar to follistatin (FST)-Fc, monovalent FSTL3-Fc (mono-FSTL3-Fc) generated with the knobs-into-holes technology exhibited longer serum half-life. Systemic administration of mono-FSTL3-Fc in mice induced muscle fiber hypertrophy and increased muscle mass in vivo. Our results indicate that the monovalent FSTL3-based therapy overcomes the difficulties of current anti-GDF8 therapies.
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