Gene therapy for follistatin mitigates systemic metabolic inflammation and post-traumatic arthritis in high-fat diet-induced obesity.
Ruhang TangNatalia S HarasymowiczChia-Lung WuKelsey H CollinsYun-Rak ChoiSara J OswaldFarshid GuilakPublished in: Science advances (2020)
Obesity-associated inflammation and loss of muscle function play critical roles in the development of osteoarthritis (OA); thus, therapies that target muscle tissue may provide novel approaches to restoring metabolic and biomechanical dysfunction associated with obesity. Follistatin (FST), a protein that binds myostatin and activin, may have the potential to enhance muscle formation while inhibiting inflammation. Here, we hypothesized that adeno-associated virus 9 (AAV9) delivery of FST enhances muscle formation and mitigates metabolic inflammation and knee OA caused by a high-fat diet in mice. AAV-mediated FST delivery exhibited decreased obesity-induced inflammatory adipokines and cytokines systemically and in the joint synovial fluid. Regardless of diet, mice receiving FST gene therapy were protected from post-traumatic OA and bone remodeling induced by joint injury. Together, these findings suggest that FST gene therapy may provide a multifactorial therapeutic approach for injury-induced OA and metabolic inflammation in obesity.
Keyphrases
- gene therapy
- high fat diet induced
- insulin resistance
- oxidative stress
- high fat diet
- skeletal muscle
- metabolic syndrome
- knee osteoarthritis
- diabetic rats
- adipose tissue
- weight loss
- type diabetes
- rheumatoid arthritis
- weight gain
- high glucose
- physical activity
- total knee arthroplasty
- drug induced
- small molecule
- radiation induced
- endothelial cells
- binding protein
- protein protein
- soft tissue