UK, UAB Partner on Clinical Trial of Metformin’s Muscle Effect

The University of Kentucky and University of Alabama at Birmingham are partners on a $2.9 million, five-year National Institute on Aging clinical study to explore how Metformin may benefit older adults who do not respond well to exercise.

Metformin, a generic drug and the most widely prescribed drug for type 2 diabetes, may be a low-cost, personalized approach to prevent frailty in the elderly by improving their muscle growth response. 

Principal investigators Charlotte Peterson and Philip Kern at UK are partnering with Marcas Bamman at UAB. Kern, director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, said, “We have significant strength in clinical and translational research through our CTSA. We have strength in diabetes, in metabolism, and in muscle biology. So I think it really leverages these different strengths and puts them together in one grant.” 

In previous studies Peterson, the Joseph Hamburg Endowed Professor and associate dean for research in the UK College of Health Sciences, and her lab team identified a key cellular feature of muscle that was associated with a better response to exercise. Research participants who gained more muscle mass and strength than other participants had this key feature in their muscle tissue. 

“In an unrelated study, the drug Metformin seemed to increase these cells in muscles,” said Peterson “So we put things together, like A+B=C. Maybe by giving people this drug before they start to exercise, it would help their muscles adapt more readily. So the current clinical trial is combining very mechanistic studies of muscle tissue, with analysis of muscle mass and strength gains in response to exercise in individuals over 65 years of age.” 

Trial participants take the drug or a placebo, undergo a three-month weight lifting training program, and then have their muscle morphology, mass and strength measured to quantify the impact of Metformin. 

Scientists across the country are looking at Metformin as an anti-cancer and anti-aging treatment, and Peterson said her team is eager to contribute to this emerging research area. Peterson points to a recent article in Science on Nir Barzilai’s push for the first wide-scale, anti-aging trial of Metformin. 

Peterson said, “We could be a part of this really large initiative to try to determine if Metformin may be one of the first drugs given to slow the aging process. There’s a lot just on the horizon in terms of trying to help older people maintain their quality of life and being part of that and trying to contribute to that knowledge base is very exciting.”