J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle (2012) 3:181–190 DOI 10.1007/s13539-012-0078-2 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Biomarkers of sarcopenia in clinical trials—recommendations from the International Working Group on Sarcopenia Matteo Cesari & Roger A. Fielding & Marco Pahor & Bret Goodpaster & Marc Hellerstein & Gabor A. Van Kan & Stefan D. Anker & Seward Rutkove & J. Willem Vrijbloed & Maria Isaac & Yves Rolland & Christine M’Rini & Mylène Aubertin-Leheudre & Jesse M. Cedarbaum & Mauro Zamboni & Cornell C. Sieber & Didier Laurent & William J. Evans & Ronenn Roubenoff & John E. Morley & Bruno Vellas & for the International Working Group on Sarcopenia Received: 23 May 2012 / Accepted: 11 June 2012 / Published online: 3 August 2012 # The Author(s) 2012. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Sarcopenia, the age-related skeletal muscle de- cline, is associated with relevant clinical and socioeconomic negative outcomes in older persons. The study of this phe- nomenon and the development of preventive/therapeutic strategies represent public health priorities. The present document reports the results of a recent meeting of the International Working Group on Sarcopenia (a task force consisting of geriatricians and scientists from academia and industry) held on June 7–8, 2011 in Toulouse (France). The meeting was specifically focused at gaining knowledge on the currently available biomarkers (functional, biological, or imaging-related) that could be utilized in clinical trials of sarcopenia and considered the most reliable and promising to evaluate age-related modifications of skeletal muscle. Spe- cific recommendations about the assessment of aging skeletal muscle in older people and the optimal methodological design of studies on sarcopenia were also discussed and finalized. Although the study of skeletal muscle decline is still in a very preliminary phase, the potential great benefits derived from a better understanding and treatment of this condition should This article is also appearing in Journal of Frailty & Aging. M. Cesari : G. A. Van Kan : Y. Rolland : B. Vellas Gerontopôle and INSERM Unit 1027, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France R. A. Fielding (*) Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, and Sarcopenia Laboratory, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, 711 Washington Street, 02111 Boston, MA, USA e-mail: roger.fielding@tufts.edu M. Pahor Department of Aging and Geriatric Research, Institute on Aging, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA B. Goodpaster Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA M. Hellerstein Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, University of California at Berkeley, San Francisco, CA, USA S. D. Anker Department of Cardiology, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany S. D. Anker Centre for Clinical and Basic Research, IRCCS San Raffaele, Rome, Italy S. Rutkove Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA J. W. Vrijbloed Neurotune AG, Schlieren, Switzerland M. Isaac Human Medicine Special Areas, Scientific Advice Section, European Medicines Agency, London, UK C. M’Rini Institut Mérieux, Lyon, France