{{Short description|Drugs that have health benefits similar to exercise}} thumb|Various exercise mimetics and their effects on pathways also affected by exercise<ref name=Hawley>{{cite journal |last1=Hawley |first1=John A. |last2=Joyner |first2=Michael J. |last3=Green |first3=Daniel J. |title=Mimicking exercise: what matters most and where to next? |journal=The Journal of Physiology |date=February 2021 |volume=599 |issue=3 |pages=791–802 |doi=10.1113/JP278761 |pmid=31749163 |language=en |issn=0022-3751|doi-access=free |pmc=7891316 }}</ref>|upright=1.6 An '''exercise mimetic''' is a drug that mimics some of the biological effects of physical exercise. Exercise is known to have an effect in preventing, treating, or ameliorating the effects of a variety of serious illnesses, including cancer, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and psychiatric and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. As of 2021, no drug is known to have the same benefits.<ref name=Jang/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Febbraio |first1=Mark A. |title=Health benefits of exercise — more than meets the eye! |journal=Nature Reviews Endocrinology |date=February 2017 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=72–74 |doi=10.1038/nrendo.2016.218 |pmid=28051119 |s2cid=5824789 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nrendo.2016.218 |language=en |issn=1759-5037|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=Hawley/>
Known biological targets affected by exercise have also been targets of drug discovery, with limited results. These known targets include:<ref name=Jang/>
{| class="wikitable" width="auto" style="text-align: left" |- !Targets !Drug candidates |- |irisin<ref name=Jang/> || |- |brain-derived neurotrophic factor<ref name=Jang/> ||ACD-856 (PAM of BDNF receptor TrkB)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wang |first=Dong |last2=Lang |first2=Zhi‐Chen |last3=Wei |first3=Shi‐Nan |last4=Wang |first4=Wei |last5=Zhang |first5=Hao |date=2024-05-02 |title=Targeting brain‐derived neurotrophic factor in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases: A review |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nep3.43 |journal=Neuroprotection |language=en |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=67–78 |doi=10.1002/nep3.43 |issn=2770-7296 |pmc=12486910 |pmid=41383700 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250611033952/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nep3.43 |archive-date=2025-06-11}}</ref> |- | interleukin-6<ref name=Jang/> || |-AMP-activated protein kinase || 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide<ref name=Jang/> |- |peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta||GW501516<ref name=Jang/> |- | PPAR gamma coactivator 1-alpha<ref name=Cento>{{cite journal |last1=Cento |first1=Alessia S. |last2=Leigheb |first2=Massimiliano |last3=Caretti |first3=Giuseppina |last4=Penna |first4=Fabio |title=Exercise and Exercise Mimetics for the Treatment of Musculoskeletal Disorders |journal=Current Osteoporosis Reports |date=October 2022 |volume=20 |issue=5 |pages=249–259 |doi=10.1007/s11914-022-00739-6|pmid=35881303 |doi-access=free |hdl=2434/936387 |hdl-access=free |pmc=9522759 }}</ref> || |- |estrogen-related receptor γ/α|| GSK4716<ref name=Jang>{{cite journal |last1=Jang |first1=Young Jin |last2=Byun |first2=Sanguine |title=Molecular targets of exercise mimetics and their natural activators |journal=BMB Reports |date=31 December 2021 |volume=54 |issue=12 |pages=581–591 |doi=10.5483/BMBRep.2021.54.12.151 |pmid=34814977 |pmc=8728540 |issn=1976-6696|doi-access=free }}</ref> SLU-PP-332 |- | NFE2L2<ref name=Cento/> || |- | Canonical transient receptor potential (TRPC) proteins<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Numaga-Tomita |first1=Takuro |last2=Oda |first2=Sayaka |last3=Nishiyama |first3=Kazuhiro |last4=Tanaka |first4=Tomohiro |last5=Nishimura |first5=Akiyuki |last6=Nishida |first6=Motohiro |title=TRPC channels in exercise-mimetic therapy |journal=Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology |date=March 2019 |volume=471 |issue=3 |pages=507–517 |doi=10.1007/s00424-018-2211-3|pmid=30298191 |pmc=6515694 |doi-access=free }}</ref> || |- | Myostatin || myostatin inhibitors<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=David L. |last2=Hittel |first2=Dustin S. |last3=McPherron |first3=Alexandra C. |title=Expression and Function of Myostatin in Obesity, Diabetes, and Exercise Adaptation |journal=Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise |date=October 2011 |volume=43 |issue=10 |pages=1828–1835 |doi=10.1249/MSS.0b013e3182178bb4 |pmid=21364474 |pmc=3192366 |issn=0195-9131|doi-access=free }}</ref> |}
The majority of the effect of exercise in reducing cardiovascular and all-cause mortality cannot be explained via improvements in quantifiable risk factors, such as blood cholesterol. This further increases the challenge of developing an effective exercise mimetic.<ref name=Hawley/> Moreover, even if a broad spectrum exercise mimetic were invented, it is not necessarily the case that its public health effects would be superior to interventions to increase exercise in the population.<ref name=Hawley/>
Exogenous administration of cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1) in rodents has been found to mimic the beneficial effects of exercise on the heart in a rodent model of severe right-sided heart failure.<ref name="ZeltChaudharyCadete2019">{{cite journal | vauthors = Zelt JG, Chaudhary KR, Cadete VJ, Mielniczuk LM, Stewart DJ | title = Medical Therapy for Heart Failure Associated With Pulmonary Hypertension | journal = Circ Res | volume = 124 | issue = 11 | pages = 1551–1567 | date = May 2019 | pmid = 31120820 | doi = 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.118.313650 | url = }}</ref><ref name="Abdul-GhaniSuenJiang2017">{{cite journal | vauthors = Abdul-Ghani M, Suen C, Jiang B, Deng Y, Weldrick JJ, Putinski C, Brunette S, Fernando P, Lee TT, Flynn P, Leenen FH, Burgon PG, Stewart DJ, Megeney LA | title = Cardiotrophin 1 stimulates beneficial myogenic and vascular remodeling of the heart | journal = Cell Res | volume = 27 | issue = 10 | pages = 1195–1215 | date = October 2017 | pmid = 28785017 | pmc = 5630684 | doi = 10.1038/cr.2017.87 | url = }}</ref><ref name="MedicalExpress2017">{{cite | title=How to trick your heart into thinking you exercise | url=https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-08-heart.html | access-date=15 March 2026 | page=}}</ref><ref name="Watson2017">{{cite web | last=Watson | first=Sara Kiley | title=This protein makes your heart fit without actually exercising it | website=Popular Science | date=10 August 2017 | url=https://www.popsci.com/protein-heart-disease-exercise/ | access-date=15 March 2026}}</ref><ref name="Buguliskis2017">{{cite web | last=Buguliskis | first=Jeffrey S. | title=Fooling the Heart to Be Healthier | website=GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News | date=8 August 2017 | url=https://www.genengnews.com/news/fooling-the-heart-to-be-healthier/ | access-date=15 March 2026}}</ref> CT-1 is under formal development for the treatment of reperfusion injury.<ref name="AdisInsight">{{cite web | title=Digna Biotech/Biotecnol | website=AdisInsight | date=2 October 2021 | url=https://adisinsight.springer.com/drugs/800030150 | access-date=15 March 2026}}</ref> It is or was also under development for treatment of acute kidney injury, diabetes mellitus, ischemia, liver failure, and obesity, but no recent development for these indications has been reported.<ref name="AdisInsight" />
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Exercise biochemistry Category:Drugs