Bumsoo Ahn, PhD

Unacylated ghrelin as a therapeutic strategy for age-associated skeletal muscle weakness

The age-related progressive loss of muscle mass and contractile dysfunction, sarcopenia, universally affects the elderly leading to frailty, reduced quality of life and health span. However, there are no pharmacological therapies to treat sarcopenia. In the proposed study, Dr. Bumsoo Ahn will investigate if increasing unacylated ghrelin, a hormone naturally released from the gut, can delay skeletal muscle weakness and loss of muscle mass in aging. The circulating level of unacylated ghrelin will be continuously elevated, which attenuates loss of muscle mass and contractile dysfunction in a short-term preliminary study using a mouse model of accelerated sarcopenia. Dr. Ahn will investigate the therapeutic potential of unacylated ghrelin in wildtype aging mice, and search for molecular mechanisms leading to the protection on skeletal muscle. Findings from his investigation have a high chance of translation based on the excellent safety profile of unacylated ghrelin and its stable synthetic peptides in young and old humans.