Bone Abstracts

Understanding normal patterns of bone growth is important for optimising bone health in children and reducing osteoporotic fractures in later life. Recently published guidelines for bone assessment in children state that to predict fractures a technique should identify children at risk of clinically significant fractures and that dual-energy absorptiometry (DXA) is the preferred method of assessment. Despite these guidelines there is still inconsistency and lack of consensus r...

Objectives: As children with confirmed type 1 Gaucher disease (inherited metabolic disorder) may have linear growth retardation, we evaluated linear growth over 2 years in children enrolled in the interventional study TKT034, in which patients receiving imiglucerase enzyme replacement therapy were switched to velaglucerase alfa.Methods: Trial TKT034 enrolled patients who were ≥2 years of age with type 1 Gaucher disease and stable clinical parameter...

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...

Background and methods: Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) is a potent antiangiogenic factor, ubiquitously expressed and secreted in human tissues. Hypertrophic cartilage and osteoblasts express PEDF that binds to type I collagen and glycosaminoglycans in the extracellular matrix. Two rare forms of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) with intact collagen synthesis are associated with PEDF deficiency. Histological observations revealed excessive osteoid formation and prolonged m...

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) classification has recently been broadened to include genes that primarily affect osteoblast differentiation. TMEM38B encodes TRIC-B, a ubiquitously expressed monovalent cation-specific channel protein involved in calcium release from the endoplasmic reticulum. How alterations in TMEM38B cause OI remains poorly understood and bone matrix characteristics in affected patients have not previously been described.<p class="abstext"...

Background: Systemic alterations in Runx2 expression have been shown to affect flat and long bone formation differently: Inactivating mutations cause low-turnover bone disease and patent fontanels in cleidocranial dysplasia, while overexpressing mutations cause metaphyseal dysplasia with maxillary hypoplasia and brachydactyly. The two conditions have inverse skeletal phenotypes. We know of no descriptions of these disorders in a patient without duplications or mutations of Run...

Mutations in the C-propeptide cleavage site of both COL1A1 and COL1A2 cause dominant high bone mass (HBM) osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), characterized by bone hypermineralization. To elucidate the role of C-propeptide processing in bone formation, we generated heterozygous HBM mice in which both residues of the COL1A1 cleavage site were mutated to prevent cleavage by BMP1. HBM mice are smaller than WT in both weight and length and have extremely brittle bones....

Abnormal tissue levels of certain trace elements such as Zinc (Zn) were reported in various types of cancer. Little is known about the role of Zn in osteosarcoma.Using confocal synchrotron radiation micro X-ray fluorescence analysis, we characterized the spatial distribution of Zn in high-grade (G3) sclerosing osteosarcoma of nine patients (4 f/5 m; 7 knee/1 humerus/1 femur) following chemotherapy and wide surgical resection. The study was done in accord...

Contemporary elemental imaging techniques are greatly contributing into the bone research. Synchrotron radiation induced confocal micro x-ray fluorescence technique (SR-μXRF) was employed for the analysis, being the most powerful and sufficient tool in detection and characterization of trace element distributions in bone tissue. Manganese (Mn), as a potential contributor into the mechanisms of calcium incorporation into bone tissue is in the spotlight of research. Further...

Background: Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), the commonest inherited bone fragility disorder, affects 1/15,000 live births resulting in frequent fractures and reduced mobility, with significant impact on quality of life. Early diagnosis is important, as therapeutic advances can lead to improved clinical outcomes.Methodology and results: Trio whole exome sequencing in patients with OI identified, in two patients, compound heterozygous mutations in NBAS</...