Genetic links to rotator cuff tears and muscle fatty change
Official title: The Genetic Epidemiology of Rotator Cuff Tears: The cuffGEN Study
Funded at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor · NIH-11184504 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks for genetic differences that raise the risk of rotator cuff tears, lead to fatty changes in shoulder muscles, and influence outcomes after surgery or physical therapy for people with atraumatic rotator cuff tears.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Michigan at Ann Arbor NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Ann Arbor, United States) |
| Project start | September 22, 2022 |
| Project end | August 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $549,792 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AR074989-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11184504 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are adults with imaging-confirmed atraumatic rotator cuff tears or patients already enrolled in the ARC multi-site trial comparing arthroscopic surgery and physical therapy.
✕Less likely to help
People without rotator cuff tears or those whose tears result from a clear acute injury are unlikely to be included or directly benefit from this work.
What this research studies
You could help by providing medical records, shoulder imaging, and a DNA sample so researchers can compare people with and without imaging-confirmed rotator cuff tears. The team will run genome-wide scans to find genetic variants tied to tears and to fatty infiltration of rotator cuff muscles, and will study whether obesity contributes causally to those muscle changes. They will link genetic data to patient-reported outcomes from a 12-site clinical trial that randomized patients to arthroscopic surgery versus physical therapy. Findings will be used to identify genes that predict who develops more muscle damage and who benefits most from different treatments.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help predict who is at higher genetic risk for rotator cuff tears and fatty muscle change and guide more personalized choices between surgery and physical therapy.
How similar studies have gone: Family studies suggest a genetic role, but large genome-wide studies using imaging-confirmed cases and linking genetics to treatment outcomes are largely new.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Jain, Nitin B — University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
- Study coordinator: Jain, Nitin B
Related research
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Who will benefit from shoulder exercise therapy for rotator cuff tears
This project aims to find which people with rotator cuff tears do well with personalized exercise-based shoulder therapy.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.