Key Genes, Altered Pathways and Potential Treatments for Muscle Loss in Astronauts and Sarcopenic Patients

Abstract

Sarcopenia is characterized by loss of muscle mass and strength in the elderly. Interestingly, astronauts suffer from a sarcopenic-like phenotype due to microgravity, thus effective countermeasures and preventive strategies are needed. Earth precision medicine combined with statistical, co-expression network and pathway analysis enables us to explore gene expression data from people with and without sarcopenia to obtain a list of 21 Key Genes (KGs). We then validated our KGs upon data from human endothelial cells cultured in the International Space Station, and astronauts’ samples from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Inspiration 4 mission. Our results suggest that POMC and GOLGA8R are the most robust biomarkers identified for muscle loss. Finally, a pharmacological screening performed to target our KGs showed that POMC activity can be modulated using phase IV or approved drugs. Combining Earth’s precision medicine with space data is a promising approach to address common conditions related to accelerated aging.