Bone Abstracts

Bone is a dynamic tissue as well as an endocrine organ, with a broad range of functions, such as static balance and locomotion, protection of internal organs, hematopoiesis, mineral storage and hormonal regulation. Bone growth and bone loss and functional changes during lifetime are important factors for human health.Metabolic bone diseases may occur in many circumstances via a disturbed balance of the complex cellular interactions involved in bone micro...

Supported by Alexion & IDS)-->Low vitamin D serum levels have been associated with a considerable number of diseases and conditions and have attracted significant attention of the scientific community as well as of health authorities all over the world. However, discussions and controversies are ongoing about the reliability, significance and correct ranges of low vitamin D serum levels. A central goa...

Introduction: Osteocalcin (OC) is a marker of bone formation but also seems to play a hormonal role in the regulation of glucose and energy metabolism. Recently, an association of BMI with a haplotype composed of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the gene for OC, located on chromosome 1q22, was observed in ethnically homogeneous European pedigrees.Aim: The aim of the study was to test the association of these three polymorphisms in the gene...

Defects in 24-hydroxylation caused by vitamin D-hydroxylase (CYP24A1) loss-of-function mutations lead to decreased degradation of 1,25(OH)2D and the syndrome of idiopathic infantile hypercalcemia. Affected individuals show increased sensitivity to vitamin D and may develop severe hypercalcemia and hypercalciuria, even with small doses of vitamin D.Presenting: The objective of the study was to investigate the gene expression profile in...

Pathophysiological calcification in the vasculature favours cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases. In patients with chronic kidney disease vitamin K metabolites are associated with decreased vascular calcification.We investigated the expression of vitamin K dependent proteins (VKDPs) in vessels and bone to identify differences in expression pattern during atherosclerosis (AS) stages and compare the two tissue profiles.Gene expressio...

Preclinical and epidemiologic data suggest that vitamin D deficiency may play a role in the pathogenesis and progression of prostate cancer. Based on recently reported genetic determinants of vitamin D insufficiency we investigated a functional T>G single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the group-specific component (GC) gene for its association with 25-hydroxy (25-OH) vitamin D and 1.25 dihydroxy (1.25-OH) vitamin D levels and further to test a possible association with m...

Introduction: Calcification of vessels, especially media calcification, in combination with bone demineralization and disturbed bone metabolism is abundant in patients suffering from end stage renal disease (ESRD). In this project, we compare biomarkers of calcification with a focus on microRNAs from ESRD patients listed for renal transplantation (RTX) and healthy controls.Methods: Samples are collected from kidney transplant patients. At the same time t...

Vitamin D deficiency is common within Europe and the Middle East, especially in risk groups. While treatment is simple, there is no consensus on the diagnostic threshold for deficiency and the required dose. The Institute of Medicine and the Endocrine Society have established guidelines on the required 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels, supplementation doses and (extra)skeletal effects of vitamin D, coming to very different conclusions. The European Calcified Tissue Society...

Objectives: Vitamin D deficiency is of current interest especially in high risk patients for reduced bone mineral density as in pediatric hematologic oncologic patients.Methods: During a 4 year period 194 pediatric hematologic oncologic patients were screened for serological vitamin D deficiency (defined as 25 (OH)D levels <30 ng/ml and accordingly <75 nmol/l). 61 patients were in the prospective group 1 defined as screening at time of diagnosis,...

Calcification in the vasculature is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular diseases and mortality outcomes. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate changes in the gene expression of calcification regulators (CR) in arterial vessels during different stages of atherosclerosis and to document potential corresponding changes in the bone. OPG, RANKL, OPN, MGP, BSP-II and RUNX2 were candidate genes for our study in bone, aorta and arteria ilica externa tissue samples...