Strength training and sarcopenia—a mandatory link: focus on MicroRNAs

TL;DR

This review highlights the role of strength training and microRNAs in managing sarcopenia, a condition causing muscle loss in older adults.

Contribution

The paper emphasizes microRNAs as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for sarcopenia.

Findings

MicroRNAs regulate protein synthesis and differ in sarcopenia patients.

Monitoring specific microRNA signatures could provide early detection of sarcopenia.

MicroRNAs may serve as a foundation for developing new drugs for sarcopenia.

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, increased life expectancy has been observed in men and women, resulting in a rise in the prevalence of diseases among the aging population. From this, sarcopenia has an estimated prevalence of 10%–16% of older people worldwide. Losing strength and muscle mass in the 65–70 age group represents a significant public health problem. In this review, we emphasize the essential importance of strength training in managing sarcopenia, highlighting the role of microRNAs, small nucleotides that were the subject of last year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. These microRNAs regulate protein synthesis and are present in all biological fluids. Some of them are expressed differently by subjects affected by sarcopenia (as happens in various forms of cancer or other diseases). Therefore, monitoring a specific signature of microRNAs can better clarify the etiopathology of sarcopenia, providing an early biomarker for sarcopenia (currently, there are some hypotheses, but none is well recognized), and even serve as the basis for the development of drugs.

Diagram illustrating the process of miRNA biogenesis and its pathways. In the nucleus, RNA polymerase II transcribes miRNA genes into pri-miRNA, processed by Drosha-DGCR8 to pre-miRNA, exported by Exportin-5. In the cytoplasm, Dicer with Ago and TRBP forms the RISC complex, leading to three outcomes: inhibition of translation, mRNA degradation, or translocation to dendrites and axons. The diagram includes exocytosis involving multivesicular endosomes and exosomes.

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