Methods for treating sarcopenia and muscle injury

1. A method for maintaining or increasing muscle function and/or mass and/or substantially preventing or reducing muscle wasting in a subject in need thereof, comprising administering to a subject (i) a Wnt-inducible signalling protein 1 (WISP1) or (ii) a fragment or variant thereof comprising an amino acid sequence that has at least 95% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 or 3.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the WISP1 or fragment or variant thereof maintains or increases muscle mass.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the subject requires treating or preventing sarcopenia, frailty and/or muscle injury.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the subject is a human subject over the age of 30 years.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the subject has incurred muscle injury through a surgical intervention and/or trauma and/or as a side effect to chemical exposure to drugs or toxins.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the subject is to undergo a planned surgical intervention.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the WISP1 fragment or variant:

(a) lacks the VWC, TSP1 and CT domains;

(b) lacks the IGFB and VWC domains; or

(c) consists of the CT domain.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the fragment or variant comprises an amino acid sequence that has at least 97% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 or 3.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the fragment or variant comprises an amino acid sequence that has at least 99% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 or 3.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the fragment or variant comprises an amino acid sequence that has 100% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 or 3.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the fragment or variant comprises an amino acid sequence that has 100% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises administering to the subject the Wnt-inducible signalling protein 1 (WISP1).