Sarcopenia is associated with multiple adverse health outcomes like cardiovascular disease, stroke, functional disability and mortality. Although skeletal muscle properties are known to be highly heritable, evidence regarding the specific genes indicating this heritability is currently inconclusive.

The goal of a new study published in Cells was to identify genetic variants known to be associated with muscle phenotypes relevant to sarcopenia.

This systematic review entailed a search from PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases from 2004-2019. Candidate gene association studies and genome-wide association studies that examined the genetic association with muscle phenotypes in non-institutionalized adults aged ≥50 years were included.

Overall, 54 studies were selected, wherein 26 genes and 88 DNA polymorphisms were analyzed. The results revealed that the ACTN3, ACE and VDR genes were the most frequently studied, although the IGF1/IGFBP3, TNFα, APOE, CNTF/R and UCP2/3 genes were also shown to be significantly associated with muscle phenotypes in two or more studies. In addition, ten DNA polymorphisms – rs154410, rs2228570, rs1800169, rs3093059, rs1800629, rs1815739, rs1799752, rs7412, rs429358 and 192 bp allele, were significantly associated with muscle phenotypes in two or more studies.

Hence, the findings further elucidated genetic associations with muscle phenotypes that correlated with sarcopenia.

Source: Cells. 2019 Dec 19;9(1). pii: E12. doi: 10.3390/cells9010012