File:Multiple tissues and organ systems are affected by exercise, initiating diverse homeostatic responses.jpg
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.[{{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 }}]
Known biological targets affected by exercise have also been targets of drug discovery, with limited results. These known targets include:
| class="wikitable" width="auto" style="text-align: left" |
| Targets
!Drug candidates |
|---|
irisin | |
brain-derived neurotrophic factor | |
interleukin-6 | |
| AMP-activated protein kinase | 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide |
| peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta | GW501516 |
PPAR gamma coactivator 1-alpha[{{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 }}] | |
| estrogen-related receptor γ/α | GSK4716[{{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 }}] SLU-PP-332 |
NFE2L2 | |
Canonical transient receptor potential (TRPC) proteins[{{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 }}] | |
| Myostatin | myostatin inhibitors[{{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 }}] |
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.[ 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.]
