Follistatin Gene Therapy

Mini Circle is now offering Follistatin Gene Therapy via the GARM Clinic at Roatan.

This is a treatment Bryan Johnson made internet famous…

Wondering if anyone is planning to try it? I am tempted!!

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Check out the past discussions on Minicircle and Follistatin:

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And epicatechin that is tested in ITP 2021 cohort, might have an impact on the levels of follistatin levels. Will it be a meaningful impact on sarcopenia in humans? That is hard to say. But ITP might give us a clue.

Follistatin binds many members of the TGF-β family, some of which we probably don’t want to inhibit. GDF11, for example, is inhibited by follistatin, and is being investigated as a longevity factor. There are more specific ways to inhibit myostatin and activin A, which are the targets of concern for muscle growth and metabolic benefits.

For these reasons, I’m very skeptical of this one. The $25,000 price tag is also ridiculous given the minimal amount of R&D that went into this. Anyone with a graduate-level molecular biology background could design something at least this good and produce it with a cost of goods on the order of a couple hundred dollars per patient.

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Back in 2015, Elizabeth Parrish underwent telomerase and follistatin gene therapy as a part of forming the startup BioViva: a human safety trial of one person, made public as a way to push the bounds of the current debate over when we should get started on human testing of these technologies.

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Dave Asprey stated that he is about to get Klotho gene therapy from minicircle shortly

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Marketing information provided by GARM. I don’t see anything new. Confirmation that this isn’t a one-off treatment. You will need repeat injections every 12-18 months. IMO it’s probably not worthwhile…

Minicircle-OnePager-Follistatin_1.10.pdf (593.3 KB)

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Started (Jan 27) with Follistatin 344 - 100mcg per day.

Going to see how this one goes for 8 weeks and do a couple cycles per year.

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@Steve_Combi Are you willing to give us some details?

So this is not gene therapy, it’s the peptide FS-344, there are several versions/fragments available with different functions. FS-344 is the easiest to get but I’m also interested in FS-315.

Single daily doses seem to run from 100mcg to as high as 300mcg but I’ve been approaching peps in a semi-conservative way. Start low, evaluate some basic markers, weight, BP, HRV, RHR, grip strength, etc. If I don’t see a horn growing out of my head, then I up the dose :slight_smile: or find the maintenance dose depending on the desired result.

I’ll do a 30 day cycle at this dose. If all goes well, then I’ll up it to 200mcg and continue for another 30 days. I plan to do 12 week cycles with a 1 month break. Until I can win the Olympia without lifting a weight LoL!

I’m going to take some photos, measurements and I picked up a grip strength unit.

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These are IM or subq shots I assume? If you do grow a horn, we want pictures. Thanks for keeping us updated.

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I wonder if Follistatin has the same effect as myostatin:

Myostatin’s flex on the reproductive hormone axis

A muscle hormone controls the mammalian reproductive system

Abstract

The mammalian hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis controls the production of sex hormones and the function of the male and female reproductive systems. The pituitary gland releases follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone in response to hypothalamic production of gonadotropin-releasing hormone. In turn, the gonads produce steroid and nonsteroid hormones that feedback on the pituitary to inhibit FSH production. The latter type of hormone includes inhibin, which is produced by ovarian granulosa cells in the female and testicular Sertoli cells in the male. On page 329, Ongaro et al. (1) report that myostatin affects this classic endocrine feedback loop. Myostatin is produced by skeletal muscle and blocks muscle cell growth and differentiation. The study identifies cross-talk between muscle and the reproductive system and raises questions about interventions to increase muscle mass that might affect fertility.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu7735

That’s the one, not a big fan of IM :frowning:

Yes it does, only because FS inhibits myostatin. It doesn’t act on FSH directly.

I also use Gonadorelin, as it supports the production of FSH and LH.

My last hormone panel (before follistatin) indicated all my hormones related to this are in the mid normal to low normal range. I will be getting another panel done in a few months.

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Would you mind sharing the your testosterone range before the gonadorelin? Also what is your dosing protocol?

I don’t mind sharing tests :slight_smile:

Steve_M_Dec_2024_ test_TRT.pdf (911.8 KB)

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It doesn’t. Myostatin limits muscle growth and in excess promotes atrophy. Follistatin promotes muscle growth by binding to and neutralizing myostatin.

With respect to myostatin’s effect on the HPG axis, follostatin would likely also act in an opposing manner, due to its mechanism of action. But I guess it would have to be investigated to be certain.

Sadly I do not have a before test for this, only the “after”. I will be doing this test a bit more frequently.