The team “Acquired Myopathies in Patients with Organ Deficiency” is developing a translational research focused on the cellular mechanisms involved in acquired myopathy in patients in critical care, i.e. patients with organ dysfunction needing to be compensated, acutely or chronically (respiratory assistance, dialysis, etc.). The team also develops in vivo and in vitro models to assess the variability of muscle response to mechanical constraints and micro-environmental stresses.

The aim of this team is to understand the mechanisms involved in this acquired myopathy, which is the cause of a chronic handicap with great inter-individual variability while the determinants remain very poorly known. We are also developing an experimental approach based on muscle biopsies and isolation of muscle stem cells, making it possible to study the cellular pathways inherent in this variability of muscle response to the same mechanical stress modeled in vitro.

Our research program is based on cohorts of patients in intensive care unit, patients on hemodialysis for chronic end-stage renal failure, patients with congenital heart disease or patients receiving cancer treatment. All these patients have two things in common: 1/ the presence of an acquired myopathy with a disability, and 2/ a variable response to the resumption of physical activity, from one subject to another. The identification of the factors inherent to this variability would enable us to develop biomarkers indicative of the individual response to a specific therapy. We aim to explore the effectiveness of non-drug therapies like rehabilitation, or of drugs targeting the cellular pathways identified. In addition, in order to more specifically address the variability of the muscular response to exercise independently of an initial muscular pathology, we apply the same approach and the same scientific questioning to a cohort of athletes trained by the CREPS of Montpellier.