ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Geriatric Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1654694
This article is part of the Research TopicMechanisms and Novel Treatments of Muscle WastingView all 5 articles
Circulatory cathepsin K as biomarkers in older adults with sarcopenia: a case-control study
Provisionally accepted
- Nanyang City Center Hospital, Nanyang, China
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Background: This study explores the relationship between circulating cathepsin K (CatK) and cathepsin D (CatD) levels and sarcopenia in older adults. Methods: This case-control study included 343 participants aged more than 65 from Nanyang Central Hospital. Sarcopenia was diagnosed using AWGS criteria, requiring low handgrip strength (HGS) and reduced appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM). Fasting blood samples were collected to measure CatD and CatK levels via ELISA. The study compared these levels between groups and evaluated their diagnostic value using ROC curve analysis. Results: Serum CatK levels were significantly higher in participants with low HGS, low ASM, and sarcopenia (all p<0.05). CatK negatively correlated with HGS (β=-0.899, p=0.016) and showed diagnostic value with an AUROC of 0.704 for sarcopenia. CatD levels showed no significant differences or correlations. The optimal CatK cutoff for sarcopenia was 5.53 ng/mL, with high CatK associated with increased odds of low HGS (OR=1.895, p=0.014) and sarcopenia (OR=3.926, p<0.001). Conclusion: Circulating CatK is a promising biomarker for sarcopenia, offering potential for early diagnosis and therapeutic targeting.
Keywords: Cathepsin D, Cathepsin K, Sarcopenia, older adults, skeletal muscle
Received: 26 Jun 2025; Accepted: 26 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Liu, Xing, Wang, Wang, Fan, Zhang, Wang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hu Zhang, Nanyang City Center Hospital, Nanyang, China
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