Dr. Michael Rudniki, senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and professor at the University of Ottawa, rallied a team of scientists to examine the repair capabilities of the human skeletal muscle stem cells.
Their study came to the conclusion that as an individual age, his or her skeletal muscle stem cells' ability to repair gradually deteriorates.
This deterioration is caused by the increased activation of a signalling pathway called the JAK/STAT.This pathway acts as an information transmitter between a muscle cell and its surrounding tissue.
Rudniki's team studied the reaction of the JAK/STAT signalling pathway by inhibiting its activation in animal muscle stem cells. The team introduced specific drugs that inhibit the activation of the pathway. By hindering the pathway's activation, the team found of that the muscle, even when it was of an older animal, maintained its optimum ability to repair damage whilst building new tissue.
The overshoot of the JAK/STAT signalling pathway then, as the Rudniki's team has found, is the culprit behind the decreases ability in the human muscle stem cells to regenerate. This regeneration is optimal in the repair of muscle injuries because if the rate of cellular regeneration goes down, the ability of the muscle to form new fibers to mend the injured ones will ultimately go down as well.
At this point, what Rudniki and his team found regarding the JAK/STAT signalling pathway is a good start, especially that these findings came about early in the study. Rudniki has expressed that this is only the beginning of an even greater study, which he and the team regards to high potential, especially in finding the cure for muscular degenerative diseases such as muscular dystrophy.
At the moment, Rudniki is saying that the most potent JAK/STAT signalling pathway inhibiting drugs are those that are used for chemotherapy. Due to the toxicity of these drugs, however, Rudniki and his team is yet to find alternatives that will deliver the same inhibiting effect to the pathway without the side effects of chemotherapy drugs.
