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Updated: May 14, 2026

Assessing Functional Metrics of Skeletal Muscle Health in Human Skeletal Muscle Microtissues

Assessing Functional Metrics of Skeletal Muscle Health in Human Skeletal Muscle Microtissues

Published on: February 18, 2021

MyoRep: A Novel Reporter System to Detect Early Muscle Atrophy In Vitro and In Vivo.

Andrea D Re Cecconi¹, Nicoletta Rizzi², Mara Barone¹

¹Department of Neuroscience, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research IRCCS, Milan, Italy.

Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle

|May 12, 2026

Summary

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This summary is machine-generated.

This study developed a novel reporter system, MyoRep, to detect pathological muscle atrophy early. MyoRep distinguishes disease-related muscle wasting from physiological changes, enabling timely interventions for better patient outcomes.

Area of Science:

Biomedical Engineering
Molecular Biology
Genetics

Background:

Muscle atrophy is a significant predictor of mortality, occurring in both physiological (fasting) and pathological (cancer) conditions.
Distinguishing pathological from physiological muscle wasting is crucial for early therapeutic intervention.
Current methods lack the specificity to differentiate between types of muscle atrophy, hindering early detection.

Purpose of the Study:

To engineer a reporter system capable of tracking pathological muscle atrophy in vivo.
To differentiate pathological muscle wasting from physiological changes like fasting-induced atrophy.
To develop a tool for early prediction and monitoring of muscle wasting diseases.

Main Methods:

Compared upstream non-coding regions of atrophy-related genes (atrogenes) using the MuRF1 promoter.

Keywords:

cancer cachexia in vivo imaging muscle atrophy reporter mouse

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Last Updated: May 14, 2026

Assessing Functional Metrics of Skeletal Muscle Health in Human Skeletal Muscle Microtissues

Assessing Functional Metrics of Skeletal Muscle Health in Human Skeletal Muscle Microtissues

Published on: February 18, 2021

Molecular Imaging to Target Transplanted Muscle Progenitor Cells

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Published on: January 17, 2019

Cloned selected promoters upstream of Firefly Luciferase for in vitro and in vivo validation.

Generated the MyoRep reporter mouse using the GREDEL promoter and AAV9 delivery systems for in vivo imaging.

Main Results:

The GREDEL promoter accurately detected early pathological muscle atrophy induced by sarcoma and denervation, preceding observable wasting by up to 8 days.
The TWIST promoter showed undesirable activity during fasting and dexamethasone treatment, unlike GREDEL.
MyoRep mice accurately predicted tumor-induced cachexia and sex-specific muscle wasting in ApcMin/+ mice, and responded to anti-atrophic drug administration.

Conclusions:

The MyoRep reporter system reliably detects pathological muscle atrophy, distinguishing it from physiological changes.
MyoRep serves as an unprecedented tool for early prediction of muscle wasting in various diseases.
This system holds potential for identifying novel atrophy biomarkers and accelerating the development of anti-atrophic therapies.