An interventional study of Exercise training in COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), Sarcopenia in Elderly and Skeletal Muscle Atrophy, sponsored by University Hospital, Bordeaux. Not yet recruiting at 3 sites in France. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-06.
Sponsored by University Hospital, Bordeaux · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The aim of the study is to decipher the alterations in signalling pathways of skeletal muscle stem cells (satellite cells (SCs)) in individuals with COPD, as well as to examine the effect of exercise training on SCs. To this end, the team will perform an exhaustive evaluation of lung and muscle function, including exercise capacity, as well as muscle biopsies, before and after a 2-months rehabilitation program. This study should provide new therapeutic avenues for COPD-associated sarcopenia.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is now to be considered as a multimorbid disease, originating from a combination of several risk factors (respiratory events in childhood, exposure to inhaled particles, physical inactivity, etc.), and simultaneously affecting several organs. This multi-organ impairment is likely to arise from common biological processes such as systemic inflammation or repair failure. Studying these processes in an organ that is easily accessible to biopsy, such as skeletal muscle, can help in the overall management of COPD. Skeletal muscle wasting (or sarcopenia: loss of muscle mass and force) is also a major comorbidity in COPD, both frequent and associated to increased mortality. Muscle stem cells (satellite cells) are responsible for repairing skeletal muscle tissue after injury, notably after micro-lesions induced by exercise. However, they have been scarcely studied in COPD. In the present project, the team proposes to study repair abnormalities in skeletal muscle tissue by comparing the signalling pathways activated in satellite cells of patients with COPD, before and after a respiratory rehabilitation programme (20 sessions over 8 to 12 weeks). The team will carry out an exhaustive respiratory and muscular assessment at inclusion and at the end of the 20 sessions, evaluating in particular respiratory function and exercise capacity (Pulmonary Function Tests, cardio-pulmonary exercise testing with VO2max measurement, 6-minute walking test, handgrip test) as well as a quadricipital muscle biopsy with the modified Bergström's technique. Muscle biopsies will be used to culture satellite cells and assess their regenerative capacity in vitro, as well as to analyse dysregulated signalling pathways at the transcriptomic level with single-cell RNAsequencing. The results should help to identify new therapeutic avenues for the comprehensive management of multimorbid COPD.
5,520 studies on the registry are indexed under Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive; 856 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 26 is below the median of 62 across 3,839 interventional studies indexed under Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive.
Browse Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive studies →University Hospital, Bordeaux is the lead sponsor of 806 studies on the registry; 197 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
Exclusion criteria:
- Hemostasis disorders.
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.
Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.
Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.
An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.
COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Biopsy and archival tissue
A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.
Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Platelets
Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hypersensitivity
An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Procedure: Exercise training
Patients will undergo an exhaustive respiratory and muscular check-up (including quadridipital muscle biopsies) at inclusion and at the end of the respiratory rehabilitation program (a minimum of 20 sessions at a rate of 2 to 3 sessions per week for 8 to 12 weeks).
Change in single-cell gene expression profile of muscle satellite cells after pulmonary rehabilitation
Intra-individual comparison of messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in muscle satellite cells isolated from quadriceps muscle biopsies collected before and after the pulmonary rehabilitation programme. Satellite cells will be isolated and analysed using single-cell and single-nucleus RNA sequencing. The outcome is the change in the gene-expression profile, including differentially expressed genes and associated molecular signalling pathways, between baseline and the end of rehabilitation.
Time frame: Day 1 (baseline, Visit 1) and Week 10 (± 2 weeks; Visit 2)
Plan to share: Yes — The data is available from Dr HENROT . An email can be sent to her so that she can contact the data manager and owner, the Bordeaux University Hospital. The data can be made available after contractual agreement.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Informed consent form, Clinical study report
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Start is estimated for Nov 2026; primary completion for Mar 2030, 40 months later.
Of 1,094 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive, half reached primary completion within 22 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 41. This study's planned 40 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 1,181 studies reached it within 22 months; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 39.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Oct 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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