Originating from research on glasswort, a salt marsh plant, this technology utilizes laminarin as an active ingredient in pharmaceutical and food compositions to prevent and treat sarcopenia caused by chemotherapy. Laminarin inhibits the increase of myostatin mRNA and protein triggered by the anticancer drug bleomycin.
Sarcopenia, a condition where muscle mass decreases by approximately 8% every decade after age 40 and up to 15% after age 70, is rising rapidly alongside an aging population. Exercise is inadequate as a long-term treatment, while testosterone or anabolic steroids carry side effects like masculinization in women or prostate issues in men. Dietary changes alone struggle to maintain muscle mass, and there has been a lack of safe substances that fundamentally inhibit myostatin, the direct driver of muscle loss.
This technology uses laminarin to block the expression of myostatin, which inhibits protein synthesis and proliferation in myoblasts, while also reducing UV-induced myostatin and the expression of MURF1, which is involved in muscle degradation. It can be applied to adjuvant therapies for managing muscle loss in cancer patients, specialized medical foods for nutritional support, and health supplements for maintaining muscle strength in the elderly, helping to preserve muscle mass, physical stamina, and treatment adherence.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries for research on discovering and commercializing potential marine healing resources to revitalize the marine industry.
CN112739361B, WO2020-017921A1
