Alyson Deprez, Nicolas Dumont, Paul Fabre, Thomas Molina and Ines Mokhtari
Credit: Véronique Lavoie, CHU Sainte-Justine
Imagine stem cells with rapid healing powers, much like Wolverine in the series X-Men, But in reality. A team led by Nicolas Dumont, professor at the Rehabilitation School of the University of Montreal and researcher at the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, recently made an important discovery on bioactive lipids and their role in muscle regeneration.
The study, published in Nature Communications, has highlighted a key mechanism by which these lipids regulate the function of muscle stem cells and their ability to regenerate the wounded muscles. This breakthrough offers prospects to explore for the treatment of certain degenerative diseases.
Bioactive lipids are fats which, in addition to storing energy, play an active role in the body. They can bind to cell receptors and trigger significant reactions such as reducing inflammation or help repair tissues. They are therefore chemical messengers who directly influence the functioning of cells.
From the stem cell to humans via Quebec
The research team is responsible for better understanding the regeneration mechanisms of muscle stem cells and clarifying their role in the healing process, especially in the context of rare neuromuscular diseases. Its attention was paid to bioactive lipids, still little studied and whose activity is crucial in the regulation of inflammation and the repair of tissues.
The team used a murin model (mouse) of isolated and cultivated muscle stem cells in vitro to examine their proliferation and differentiation. She then collaborated with teams from Laval University and together they tested their laboratory discoveries on human cells. Their results made it possible to demonstrate that the reduction of an enzyme (alox15) responsible for the formation of bioactive lipids also decreases the ability to regenerate muscles after an injury.
These works also made it possible to demonstrate that a treatment with protectin 1 (one of these bioactive lipids) promotes the restoration of the potential for muscle regeneration. Indeed, the molecule has improved the function of muscles in mice with Duchenne dystrophy, which suggests therapeutic perspectives for this serious genetic disease which affects about 1 in 4000 boy.
“Bioactive lipids therefore act as real conductors of muscle regeneration. By targeting them, we open the way to innovative treatments for diseases hitherto without lasting solution, ”says Nicolas Dumont, also holder of the Canada Research Chair on stem cells and neuromuscular diseases.
Towards the therapies of tomorrow
Until now, the treatments available, such as glucocorticoids, were mainly focused on reducing inflammation and the slowdown in muscle degeneration, often with significant side effects: anxiety and depression, cataracts, weight gain, osteoporosis, etc.
This new study strengthens the idea that it is now possible to directly target muscle regeneration mechanisms using synthetic analogues of bioactive lipids.
“This discovery could transform the treatment of degenerative muscular diseases by offering more effective and less invasive therapeutic approaches,” said Paul Fabre, a doctoral student at UdeM who conducted the study under the direction of Nicolas Dumont. These new treatments could not only restore muscle function, but also reduce side effects and thus increase the quality of life of patients.
