GDF8 and activin A are the key negative regulators of muscle mass in postmenopausal females: a randomized phase I trial.

ABSTRACT: Evolutionary pressures to protect against food scarcity likely resulted in highly-conserved pathways designed to minimize energy expenditure, one of which involves the minimization of muscle mass; these mechanisms may be counter-productive in a modern world suffering from obesity and sarcopenia. Growth differentiation factor 8 (GDF8)/myostatin, acting via ActRIIA/B receptors, is the best-characterized negative regulator of muscle mass, leading to therapeutic efforts to augment muscle growth by blocking GDF8 or ActRIIA/B. ActRIIA/B blockade approximately doubles the muscle increase of GDF8 blockade, and as ActRIIA/B responds to multiple other TGFβ-family members, this implies other ligands might also regulate muscle mass. Previously, we suggested that activin A (ActA) is the key second nega

SUBMITTER: Gonzalez Trotter D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12075688 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature