Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often develop complications associated with sarcopenia; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Through a combination of in vitro and in vivo experiments, as well as bioinformatics analysis, our study identified YAP/TAZ as a key regulator of the aging phenotype in the skeletal muscle of COPD patients. In skeletal muscle affected by cigarette smoke-induced COPD, we observed significant reductions in YAP/TAZ levels, alongside markers indicative of skeletal muscle aging and dysfunction. Notably, overexpression of YAP/TAZ significantly improved these conditions. Our results suggest a novel mechanism whereby the maintenance of YAP/TAZ activity interacts with ACTR2 to preserve nuclear membrane integrity and reduce cytoplasmic dsDNA levels, thereby attenuating STING activation and cellular senescence. Additionally, we found that YAP is involved in the transcriptional regulation of the ACTR2 promoter region. Overall, preserving YAP/TAZ activity may help prevent skeletal muscle aging associated with COPD, representing a new strategy for intervening in COPD-related sarcopenia.
Keywords: ACTR2; COPD; Nuclear membrane rupture; Sarcopenia; Senescence; YAP/TAZ.
© 2025. The Author(s).