Androgens, Myostatin, and Sarcopenia in Older Women

描述(申请人提供)：Anne Cappola博士，曾在 马萨诸塞州总医院和约翰霍普金斯大学的内分泌学 医院，最近在约翰·霍普金斯大学完成了流行病学理学硕士学位 公共卫生学院和约翰·霍普金斯老年中心的研究员 和健康。2001年4月，卡波拉博士加入了该大学的教职 马里兰州的医学和流行病学助理教授。她有 拥有专业知识的内分泌学家艾伦·舒尔迪纳博士提供了强大的导师 和琳达·弗里德博士，一位老年病学家和流行病学家，以 她对脆弱的研究。他们将为她提供广泛的资源和 激发跨学科环境，推出独立学术 职业生涯。 骨质疏松症是骨骼肌质量和功能的不由自主的丧失，是一种 潜在的可修改状态，导致脆弱、功能正常 依赖，并在年长的人中下降。内分泌系统的作用 在骨质疏松症的发生发展过程中，人们知之甚少。的中心目标是 这项建议是为了确定雄激素和肌肉生长抑制素在骨质疏松症中的作用。 通过对流行病学和分子数据的检查，对老年妇女进行了研究。在……里面 具体目标1，Cappola博士建议描述 卵巢和肾上腺雄激素和肌肉生长抑素的随机抽样研究 使用来自心血管健康研究(CHS)的库存血液的65岁。 在具体目标2中，她将进行分析，以确定是降低还是 雄激素水平下降和/或肌肉生长抑素水平升高或增加 在CHS和一群女性中与骨质疏松症独立相关 功能相对较高的女性？S健康与老龄化研究II。 具体目标3，她将进行一项关于小剂量睾丸素的初步研究 以评估雄激素缺乏症老年妇女的安全性和有效性 干预和描绘雄激素通过 使用功能基因组学方法调节肌肉的变化。 卡波拉？S博士跨学科培训，导师精神强，细致入微 设计的职业发展计划、支持性环境和新奇 研究计划将给她提供她需要发展成的经验和工具 一位非常成功的、独立的临床研究员。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dr. Anne Cappola, who trained in Endocrinology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Johns Hopkins Hospital, recently completed an Sc.M. in Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health. In April, 2001, Dr. Cappola joined the faculty at the University of Maryland as Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology. She has strong mentor ship from Dr. Alan Shuldiner, an endocrinologist with expertise in aging, and Dr. Linda Fried, a geriatrician and epidemiologist renowned for her work on frailty. They will provide her with extensive resources and a stimulating interdisciplinary environment to launch her independent academic career. Sarcopenia, the involuntary loss of skeletal muscle mass and function, is a potentially modifiable condition that contributes to frailty, functional dependence, and falls in older individuals. The role of the endocrine system in the development of sarcopenia is poorly understood. The central goal of this proposal is to define the role of androgens and myostatin in sarcopenia in older women through examination of epidemiologic and molecular data. In Specific Aim 1, Dr. Cappola proposes to characterize the distribution of ovarian and adrenal androgens and myostatin in a random sample of women over the age of 65 using banked blood from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). In Specific Aim 2, she will perform analyses to determine whether lower or declining levels of androgens and/or higher or increasing levels of myostatin are independently associated with sarcopenia in CHS and in a cohort of women with relatively high function, the Women?s Health and Aging Study II. In Specific Aim 3, she will perform a pilot study of low-dose testosterone in androgen-deficient older women to evaluate the safety and efficacy of this intervention and to delineate the molecular mechanisms whereby androgens mediate changes in muscle using functional genomics approaches. Dr. Cappola?s interdisciplinary training, strong mentor ship, carefully designed career development program, supportive environment, and novel research plan will give her the experience and tools she needs to develop into a highly successful, independent clinical investigator.