Study record
MOTS-c partially protects against skeletal muscle deterioration in C26 cachexia
Jamnick NA, Livingston PD, Gammon CJ et al. · Front Med (Lausanne) · 2026
What this study reported
Reported that tumour-bearing mice lost body weight and that administered MOTS-c was not associated with preservation of total body weight or fat mass but was associated with preserved quadriceps mass, with a trend for gastrocnemius mass and EDL function. Reported attenuated Atrogin-1 and MuRF1 upregulation, increased inhibitory pFOXO1, reduced pFOXO3a and partial restoration of PGC-1alpha in muscle, and increased PGC-1alpha mRNA and AMPK phosphorylation in myotubes.
Limitations
Male mice in a single aggressive tumour cachexia model with group sizes not reported in the abstract; effects were partial and some endpoints only trended; survival and function were assessed narrowly.
Study record
| Study model | Animal study (in vivo) |
|---|---|
| Substance studied | MOTS-c administeredSynthetic MOTS-c was given to cells, animals or people. |
| Species | mouse |
| System studied | Male mice bearing Colon-26 carcinoma; differentiated myotubes in culture |
| Population | Not reported |
| Design | Controlled animal experiment with cell culture experiments |
| Sample size as reported | not reported |
| Control group | vehicle-treated tumour-bearing mice |
| Route (data field only) | intraperitoneal |
| Endpoints measured | body weight and fat mass; skeletal muscle mass (quadriceps, gastrocnemius); EDL muscle function; atrogene expression (MuRF1, Atrogin-1); FOXO signalling; PGC-1alpha |
| Pathways measured | AMPK signalling · AKT / mTOR / FOXO · SIRT1 / PGC-1α / biogenesis |
| Research areas | Skeletal muscle · Cancer · Metabolic · Mitochondrial biology |
| Evidence tier | C — Animal in vivo |
| Publication types | Journal Article |
Appraisal
Each dimension is recorded separately and never combined into a single score. A study can be well controlled and still tell you little about people.
- Relevance to MOTS-c
- Direct
- Model applicability
- Mammalian
- Sample size
- Not reported
- Controls
- Appropriate
- Outcome validity
- Surrogate
- Support for its own conclusion
- Moderate
Provenance
- Bibliographic fields retrieved from PubMed E-utilities efetch (title, journal, date, authors, DOI) on 2026-11-11.
- Annotated from the published abstract.
- Editorial review: approved (2026-11-11).
- Classification follows the site methodology; the record describes the study, not what MOTS-c does in people.