New gene therapy prevents muscle wasting associated with Cancer

Australian researchers have demonstrated a new gene therapy-based strategy that could be used to prevent the loss of muscle mass and physical strength associated with advanced cancer. Up to 80 per cent of patients with advanced cancer suffer from "cachexia", a condition of pronounced weight loss, frailty and fatigue, associated with severe wasting of muscle and fat. For these individuals, muscle wasting is a predictor of poor outcomes and reduced survival, as debilitating frailty leads to loss of independent movement, impaired respiratory function, and reduced tolerance for aggressive chemotherapy regimens.
By targeting the processes that take place inside the muscle cells themselves, researchers from Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Monash University, and The University of Melbourne have identified a way to treat the frailty of cachexia in a pre-clinical model without side-effect risks.
Taking advantage of the processes by which viruses introduce genetic material into cells, the team developed purpose-built "viral vectors"; tiny particles that deliver a therapeutic gene to muscles and the heart. Once inside the muscle and heart cells, the therapeutic gene produces a protein that prevents cachexia-causing factors in the blood stream from switching on the signalling responsible for muscle wasting.