Satellite cell glucocorticoid receptor restrains myogenic commitment without mediating the effects of therapeutic glucocorticoids on muscle repair

Conditional deletion of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in satellite cells reduces PAX7-positive cells during regeneration in young mice, while leaving muscle repair largely intact in young and aged animals.

• Why it matters: It is unclear whether GR signaling within satellite cells controls their stem-like state and whether it mediates the muscle-repair effects of therapeutic glucocorticoids.
• What they did: The study used SatC-specific GR deletion in young and aged mice, plus transcriptomic and chromatin profiling of quiescent SatC; it also silenced GR in human myoblasts and tested chronic prednisone or early-phase dexamethasone during regeneration.
• The result: GR occupies stem-fate and developmental signaling genes in quiescent SatC, and GR loss lowers Yap1, Runx1, and Foxo1 while increasing Myog; therapeutic prednisone and dexamethasone effects on regeneration were comparable in control and SatC GR-deficient mice.

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