Functional Food for Sarcopenia: Investigating the Impact of Myostatin Epitope Fusion Protein in Elderly Mice using Probiotic Bacillus subtilis

ABSTRACT

Probiotics have a well-established history of positively impacting human health, particularly concerning immune function. Utilizing Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) strains to produce epitopes as probiotic foods exhibits significant potential in eliciting robust immune responses. The present study examines the effectiveness and safety of using a myostatin epitope fusion protein for increasing muscle mass in elderly mice. The fusion protein was developed with a targeting peptide for M-cells and was expressed in the food-grade host, Bacillus subtilis. An industrial potential formula was developed, which is composed of probiotic B. subtilis 3A16 and epitope expressing food-grade host B. subtilis WB800. This formula is safe and effective in increasing muscle mass in elderly mice, suggesting that it may be a potential treatment for sarcopenia and benefit human health as well.

KEYWORDS:

• Myostatin
• food-grade host
• M-cell targeting peptide
• muscle mass
• elderly mice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).