Journal article
Interleukin-15 administration improves diaphragm muscle pathology and function in dystrophic mdx mice
LJ Harcourt, AG Holmes, P Gregorevic, JD Schertzer, N Stupka, DR Plant, GS Lynch
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY | ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC | Published : 2005
Abstract
Interleukin (IL)-15, a cytokine expressed in skeletal muscle, has been shown to have muscle anabolic effects in vitro and to slow muscle wasting in rats with cancer cachexia. Whether IL-15 has therapeutic potential for diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is unknown. We examined whether IL-15 administration could ameliorate the dystrophic pathology in the diaphragm muscle of the mdx mouse, an animal model for DMD. Four weeks of IL-15 treatment improved diaphragm strength, a highly significant finding because respiratory function is a mortality predictor in DMD. Enhanced diaphragm function was associated with increased muscle fiber cross-sectional area and decreased collagen inf..
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