Here is your myostatin blocker ...

[Big Cat]

Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2002 Jul;283(1):C135-41. Related Articles, Links


Single cysteine to tyrosine transition inactivates the growth inhibitory function of Piedmontese myostatin.

Berry C, Thomas M, Langley B, Sharma M, Kambadur R.

Animal Genomics, AgResearch, Hamilton, New Zealand.

Myostatin, a member of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily, is a secreted growth factor that is proteolytically processed to give COOH-terminal mature myostatin and NH2-terminal latency-associated peptide in myoblasts. Piedmontese cattle are a heavy-muscled breed that express a mutated form of myostatin in which cysteine (313) is substituted with tyrosine. Here we have characterized the biology of this mutated Piedmontese myostatin. Northern and Western analyses indicate that there is increased expression of myostatin mRNA and precursor myostatin protein in the skeletal muscle of Piedmontese cattle. In contrast, a decrease in mature myostatin was observed in Piedmontese skeletal muscle. However, there is no detectable change in the circulatory levels of mature myostatin in Piedmontese cattle. Myoblast proliferation assay performed with normal and Piedmontese myostatin indicated that mature wild-type myostatin protein inhibited the proliferation of C2C12 myoblasts. Piedmontese myostatin, by contrast, failed to inhibit myoblast proliferation. In addition, when added in molar excess, Piedmontese myostatin acted as a potent "competitive inhibitor" molecule. These results indicate that, in Piedmontese myostatin, substitution of cysteine with tyrosine results in the distortion of the "cystine knot" structure and a loss of biological activity of the myostatin. This mutation also appears to affect either processing or stability of mature myostatin without altering the secretion of myostatin.

By injecting the purified Piedmontese Myostatin, one could technically decrease the activity of endogenous myostatin, thus creating a myostatin blocker that actually works.

[John Benz]

Very interesting. How many years and much research will be required to market this product for use on human beings?

[Big Cat]

No way of telling. Someone may already be in the process of attempting it. With the general amount of time between development and release for a product being 5-10 years, i wouldn't expect to see a legit product on the market any time soon.

[Aeternal]

I saw on the bottom of the article that it stated it was injected.

Wouldn't this be damn near impossible to get approved for sale if it had to be injected?

[Big Cat]

For legal sale ? Definitely. Also the cost of manufacturing it in recombinant form would make it pretty expensive. Whilst I am sure the first problem can be resolved, I'm also damn sure that doing so would make it even more expensive and pretty much inaffordable.