Effect of GM-CSF gene in the skeletal muscle tissue remodeling

• Grant number: 11/15491-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Sang Won Han
• Grantee: Adara Áurea dos Santos
• Host Institution: Centro de Terapia Celular e Molecular. Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Muscle damage occurs more frequently among athletes and is the main cause for the discontinuation of their activities. The repair of damaged muscle tissue is a complex and slow process that involves angiogenesis, myogenesis and fibrogenesis. In many cases the tissue repair is incomplete due to the exacerbated fibrosis. GM-CSF is a pleiotropic hematopoietic factor responsible for proliferation and differentiation of granulocytes and monocytes, and mobilization of stem cells from bone marrow.Our group and others have demonstrated that the GM-CSF has arteriogenic and vasculogenic activity in a murine model of limb ischemia. In addition, we also showed that the use of this factor led to decreased fibrosis. Based on these observations, we have proposed that the GM-CSF may act as the master factor in the process of repairing damaged muscle tissue. The main objective of this project is to validate this hypothesis through analysis of gene expression of cells that make up the skeletal muscle tissue after transfection with GM-CSF. These studies may clarify the molecular mechanism and cellular repair of muscle tissue and contribute to the development of new therapeutic procedures.