Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42120991›Full record

ArticleJournal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle2026

MyoRep: A Novel Reporter System to Detect Early Muscle Atrophy In Vitro and In Vivo.

Andrea D Re Cecconi, Nicoletta Rizzi, Mara Barone, Federica Palo, Martina Lunardi, Mara Forti, Adriana Maggi, Paolo Ciana, Giulia Terribile, Michela Chiappa and 2 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Andrea D Re CecconiDepartment of Neuroscience, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research IRCCS, Milan, Italy.
Nicoletta RizziDirezione Servizi per la Ricerca-Settore Animal Care Unit, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Mara BaroneDepartment of Neuroscience, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research IRCCS, Milan, Italy.
Federica PaloDepartment of Neuroscience, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research IRCCS, Milan, Italy.
Martina LunardiDepartment of Neuroscience, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research IRCCS, Milan, Italy.
Mara FortiDepartment of Neuroscience, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research IRCCS, Milan, Italy.
Adriana MaggiDepartment of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Paolo CianaDepartment of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Giulia TerribileDepartment of Neuroscience, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research IRCCS, Milan, Italy.
Michela ChiappaDepartment of Neuroscience, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research IRCCS, Milan, Italy.
Lorena ZentilinMolecular Medicine, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Trieste, Italy.
Rosanna PiccirilloDepartment of Neuroscience, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research IRCCS, Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-1613-9352

Funding

Fondazione AIRC per la Ricerca sul Cancro ETS AIRC-IG 19927FONDAZIONE CARIPLO-Progetto Giovani Ricercatori 2014-1164Italian Ministry of Health, Ricerca Finalizzata 2021 RF-2021-12372850
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMuscle atrophy occurs during physiological (i.e., fasting) and pathological conditions (i.e., cancer) and anticipates death. Since not all patients will undergo muscle wasting, it would be highly useful to identify them soon to intervene early. We aim to generate a reporter system to follow only pathological, but not physiological, muscle wasting through in vivo imaging.

methodsComparing the upstream non-coding regions of a subset of atrophy-related genes or atrogenes, using the MuRF1 promoter as a backbone, we cloned various promoters upstream of Firefly Luciferase. The best hits selected in vitro were further compared in in vivo imaging if able to sense early atrophy induced by MCG101 sarcoma or sciatic nerve resection through plasmid electroporation or AAV9 injections. The best promoter was used to generate the reporter mouse MyoRep, expressing the cassette in all skeletal and cardiac muscles using the loxP system.

resultsLuciferase assays showed that only the newly generated promoters of MuRF1, one containing glucocorticoid-responsive elements or GRE (TWIST) (p ≤ 0.01, 1.7 FC) and a GRE-less promoter (GREDEL) (p ≤ 0.0001, 1.6 FC), discriminated the supernatants from cachectic tumoural cells (C26) from non-cachectic ones (4T1). Comparing both reporters electroporated in leg muscles, we found that GREDEL, but not TWIST, anticipated atrophy by 6 days in MCG101 carriers (p ≤ 0.05) and by 8 days upon denervation (p ≤ 0.05), recapitulating MuRF1 inductions. TWIST, but not GREDEL, drove an undesirable bioluminescent signal in vitro to dexamethasone (p ≤ 0.001, 1.5 FC) and in vivo upon fasting (p = 0.0553, 3 FC). GREDEL-carrying AAV9 injected in the legs of Apc

conclusionsSince MyoRep detects only pathological atrophy anticipating wasting, it represents an unprecedented tool to predict it early in diseases with local or systemic atrophy. It could also be useful to identify early biomarkers of atrophy and new drugs at once.

Indexed as

Genes, ReporterMuscular AtrophyAnimalsHumansMaleMiceMuscle ProteinsMuscle, SkeletalPromoter Regions, GeneticMuscle Proteinscancer cachexiain vivo imagingmuscle atrophyreporter mouse

Identifiers

PMID42120991
PMCPMC13167697

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.