Effect of follistatin on skeletal muscle wasting of cancer cachexia mice and its mechanism / 吉林大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

Objective: To observe the effects of follistatin (FST)on the skeletal muscle wasting of cancer cachexia mice and the expressions of Mstn, LncRNA-MALAT1 and Caspase-3, and to elucidate its associated molecular mechanisms.Methods:Thirty-two BALB/c mices were randomly assigned intohealthy control (HC) group,FST prevention (FP)group,FST treatment (FT)group and cancer cachexia (CC)group.The murine colon adenocarcinoma CT26 cells were inoculated subcutaneously into the mices in FP, FT and CC groups to establish the cancer cachexia models. The body weight, spontaneous activity and tumor growth were daily monitored.The mice in FP and FT groups were administrated with FST intraperitoneally on day 6 and 12 after inoculation.The samples were collected on day 20.The tumor and gastrocnemius weights of the mice were detected. The biochemical metabolism indexes and myofiber cross-sectional area of gastrocnemius tissue were detected.The mRNA expression levels of Mstn,Caspase-3 and LncRNA-MALAT1 were examined by Real-time PCR.The protein expression levels of Mstn and Caspase-3 were measured by Western blotting method. Results:Compared with CC group,the body weights,spontaneous activities,gastrocnemius weights and myofiber cross-sectional areas were increased (P <0.05);the serum levels of glucose,total protein and albumin of the mice in FP and FT groups were increased (P <0.05).The protein and mRNA expression levels of Mstn and Caspase-3 in gastrocnemius of the mice in CC group were significantly higher and the expression level of LncRNA-MALAT1 was significantly lower than those in HC group (P < 0.05).The mRNA and protein expression levels of Mstn and Caspase-3 in FP and FT groups were reduced and the expression level of LncRNA-MALAT1 was increased compared with CC group (P < 0.05).The prevention effect in FP group is better than FT group (P < 0.05). Conclusion:FST may alleviate the muscle wasting of the mice with cancer cachexia by inhibiting the expression of Mstn,thus upregulating the expression of LncRNA-MALAT1 which in turn to suppress the expression of Caspase-3.