Because of the biologic plausibility and evidence thatdecreased myostatin levels are associated with increased mus-cle mass, inhibition with myostatin antibodies, small interfer-ing RNA, or activin receptor IIB decoy receptors amongothers are being developed and tested in animals as ap-proaches to potentially increase muscle mass/function [25,53]. Although existing data are quite limited, the observedincrease in muscle mass and muscle strength found in animalslead to phase 1 and 2 studies in humans [53]. Several phar-maceutical companies have registered trials for “muscle weak-ness”, “muscle atrophy”, “muscle loss” and also for “muscledystrophy” using compounds inhibiting the myostatin path-way (www.clinicaltrials.gov), however, only minimal resultshave been published. As an example, MYO-029 is a recom-binant human antibody to myostatin studied in individualswith different types of muscular dystrophy. This phase I/IIstudy examined the safety profile of the compound at differentdosing levels. It was found to be safe (apart from cutaneoushypersensitivity at some doses) but no significant
Myostatin - The Holy Grail for Muscle, Bone, and Fat? (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257135787_Myostatin_-_The_Holy_Grail_for_Muscle_Bone_and_Fat [accessed Apr 24, 2016].