Emmeran Le Moal, Yuguo Liu, Jasmin Collerette-Tremblay, Simon Dumontier, Paul Fabre, Thomas Molina, Junio Dort, Zakaria Orfi, Nicolas Denault, Joël Boutin, Joris Michaud, Hugo Giguère, Alexandre Desroches, Kien Trân, Benjamin Ellezam, François Vézina, Sonia Bedard, Catherine Raynaud, Frederic Balg, Philippe Sarret, Pierre-Luc Boudreault, Michelle S Scott, Jean-Bernard Denault, Eric Marsault, Jerome N Feige, Mannix Auger-Messier, Nicolas A Dumont, C Florian Bentzinger
Impaired skeletal muscle stem cell (MuSC) function has long been suspected to contribute to the pathogenesis of muscular dystrophy (MD). Here, we showed that defects in the endothelial cell (EC) compartment of the vascular stem cell niche in mouse models of Duchenne MD, laminin α2-related MD, and collagen VI-related myopathy were associated with inefficient mobilization of MuSCs after tissue damage. Using chemoinformatic analysis, we identified the 13-amino acid form of the peptide hormone apelin (AP-13) as a candidate for systemic stimulation of skeletal muscle ECs...
March 20, 2024: Science Translational Medicine