Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun 30:16:1592112.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1592112. eCollection 2025.

Associations of circulating apolipoprotein J and myostatin with sarcopenia in older adults with and without type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study

Inha Jung  1 , Da-Hye Shin  1 , Hyun Joo Cho  1 , So Young Park  1 , Da Young Lee  1 , Ji Hee Yu  1 , Nan Hee Kim  1 , Minjin Lee  2 , Young-Bum Kim  2 , Ji A Seo  1
Affiliations

Associations of circulating apolipoprotein J and myostatin with sarcopenia in older adults with and without type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study

Inha Jung et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is a known risk factor for sarcopenia. Apolipoprotein J (ApoJ) and myostatin (MSTN) have been implicated in muscle glucose metabolism. We aimed to examine the association between serum ApoJ and MSTN levels and sarcopenia in older adults, with and without DM.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 130 community-dwelling adults aged 65-92 years. Serum ApoJ and MSTN levels were measured using ELISA. Sarcopenia was defined as low appendicular skeletal muscle index (ASMI) with low handgrip strength (HS) and/or poor physical performance (PP). Associations were analyzed using age- and sex-adjusted models and logistic regression.

Results: Sarcopenia was present in 17.7% of participants. Those with sarcopenia had higher ApoJ levels than those without (p = 0.022). ApoJ levels did not differ by DM status, but MSTN levels were lower in participants with DM (p = 0.012). MSTN levels were positively associated with ASMI, HS, and PP. In logistic regression, ApoJ was independently associated with sarcopenia (OR = 1.027, p = 0.006) and severe sarcopenia (OR = 1.041, p = 0.027), while MSTN was inversely associated with severe sarcopenia (OR = 0.980, p = 0.025). The highest sarcopenia prevalence (26.7%) was observed in the high ApoJ/low MSTN group, and the lowest (0%) in the low ApoJ/high MSTN group.

Discussion: Elevated ApoJ and reduced MSTN levels are associated with sarcopenia in older adults. These biomarkers may play opposing roles and serve as potential predictors for sarcopenia.

Keywords: apolipoprotein J (ApoJ); appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM); diabetes mellitus (DM); handgrip strength (HS); insulin resistance (IR); myostatin (MSTN); physical performance (PP).

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age- and sex-adjusted serum ApoJ and MSTN levels according to Sarcopenia, severe Sarcopenia, and components of Sarcopenia. (A) ApoJ levels according to sarcopenia status and its components. (B) MSTN levels according to sarcopenia status and its components. * indicates a p-value of <0.05; ** indicates a p-value of <0.01 when comparing groups. ASMI, appendicular skeletal muscle mass index; ApoJ, apolipoprotein J; HS, handgrip strength; MSTN, myostatin; PP, physical performance.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Beaudart C, Zaaria M, Pasleau F, Reginster J-Y, Bruyère O. Health outcomes of sarcopenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS One. (2017) 12:e0169548. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169548 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Sayer AA. Sarcopenia. Lancet. (2019) 393:2636–46. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31138-9 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Petermann-Rocha F, Balntzi V, Gray SR, Lara J, Ho FK, Pell JP, et al. Global prevalence of sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J cachexia sarcopenia Muscle. (2022) 13:86–99. doi: 10.1002/jcsm.12783 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yuan S, Larsson SC. Epidemiology of sarcopenia: Prevalence, risk factors, and consequences. Metabolism. (2023) 144:155533. doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2023.155533 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Bahat G, Bauer J, Boirie Y, Bruyère O, Cederholm T, et al. Sarcopenia: revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis. Age Ageing. (2019) 48:16–31. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afy169 - DOI - PMC - PubMed