Word: myostatin
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...major strategies hold the most promise: boosting levels of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which encourages muscle repair; and removing myostatin, the body's natural check on uncontrolled muscle growth. Versions of IGF-1 are already available at pharmacies and nutritional-supplement stores, where they are marketed as muscle boosters, but scientists know that taking this oral form of the hormone does very little for building muscle and can have harmful effects on the heart. That hasn't stopped some athletes from trying it. "I'm convinced that some athletes are using a combination...
Boosting IGF-1 levels is only half the story. Sweeney is also trying to tip the balance by shutting down myostatin, a compound that inhibits IGF-1 activity in the muscle. The pharmaceutical maker Wyeth Ayerst is testing a myostatin blocker in early trials of healthy humans, and hopes that it may become a new treatment option for those with muscular dystrophy or for the elderly who have become frail from the normal muscle wasting that occurs with aging...