Microbial-Derived Exerkines as a Model of Drug Discovery
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
- 2Center for Muscle Biology, College of Health Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
- 3Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, CA, USA
- 4Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA
- 5Division of Biomedical Informatics, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
Abstract
There has been a growing interest in the utilization of the gut microbiome as a therapeutic tool. The relationship between the gut microbiome and exercise provides a unique opportunity to maximize the therapeutic capacity of the gut microbiome. Here, we summarize the potential of leveraging the gut microbiome to confer the health benefits of exercise through a novel class of microbial metabolites termed microbial-derived exerkines (MDEs). We identify multiple candidate and established MDEs described in the literature (e.g., pipecolic acid, succinate, short-chain fatty acids, indole-3-propionic acid, and 3-hydroxyphenylacetic acid) and explore their implications in conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, aging, skeletal muscle atrophy, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer's disease. Given the beneficial effects of exercise on numerous diseases, we anticipate MDEs will be a productive avenue for drug discovery and therapeutic progress.
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BibTeX
@article{burke2026microbialderived,
title = {{Microbial-Derived Exerkines as a Model of Drug Discovery}},
author = {Benjamin I. Burke and Taylor R. Valentino and Ahmed Ismaeel and Yuan Wen and John J. McCarthy},
journal = {American journal of physiology. Cell physiology},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1152/ajpcell.90006.2026},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpcell.90006.2026},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Microbial-Derived Exerkines as a Model of Drug Discovery
AU - Benjamin I. Burke
AU - Taylor R. Valentino
AU - Ahmed Ismaeel
AU - Yuan Wen
AU - John J. McCarthy
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
JO - American journal of physiology. Cell physiology
DO - 10.1152/ajpcell.90006.2026
UR - https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpcell.90006.2026
AB - There has been a growing interest in the utilization of the gut microbiome as a therapeutic tool. The relationship between the gut microbiome and exercise provides a unique opportunity to maximize the therapeutic capacity of the gut microbiome. Here, we summarize the potential of leveraging the gut microbiome to confer the health benefits of exercise through a novel class of microbial metabolites termed microbial-derived exerkines (MDEs). We identify multiple candidate and established MDEs described in the literature (e.g., pipecolic acid, succinate, short-chain fatty acids, indole-3-propionic acid, and 3-hydroxyphenylacetic acid) and explore their implications in conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, aging, skeletal muscle atrophy, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer's disease. Given the beneficial effects of exercise on numerous diseases, we anticipate MDEs will be a productive avenue for drug discovery and therapeutic progress.
SN - 0363-6143
SN - 1522-1563
ER -