Bone Abstracts

Introduction: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is associated with osteopenia, which was found to be a significant prognostic factor for curve progression. However, in-depth quantitative assessment of bone quality was previously hampered by invasive nature of the investigations. The recently available high-resolution pQCT (HR-pQCT) allows a three-dimensional assessment of the bone quality in-vivo. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the bone quality in AIS gi...

Objectives: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a complex three-dimensional structural deformity of the spine and its etiology remains unknown. Girls with AIS have taller stature, longer arm span, lower BMI, and generalized osteopenia. Leptin has been postulated as one of the etiologic factors of AIS because of its important physiological functions in neuro-osseous development affecting skeletal growth, bone metabolism, energy expenditure and body composition. Previous st...

Background: Height is required for interpretation of bone mineral density in children and is often challenging in non-weight bearing children. Monitoring of linear growth in non-weight bearing children as part of assessment of bone health is also important.Objective: To investigate the feasibility of a novel method of using DXA images to measure height (Ht), sitting height (SH) and leg length (LL).Methods: Ht and SH were measured o...

Introduction: Bone metastases represent a frequent complication of breast cancer and are characterized by increased tumour-driven activation of osteoclasts and subsequent bone loss. Aminobisphosphonates inhibit osteoclast function and are established therapies of skeletal metastases. Similar to statins, they block the mevalonate pathway and are thought to have direct anti-tumour effects. Here, we report on the anti-tumour potential of a sequential inhibition of the mevalonate ...

Breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy in women and frequently results in osteolytic bone metastases. Amino-bisphosphonates are a standard bone protective therapy and, similarly to statins, inhibit the mevalonate pathway that is crucial for posttranslational protein modifications (farnesylation and geranylation). Direct anti-tumor effects of amino-bisphosphonates and statins have been suggested but high concentrations are necessary to achieve meaningful effects. Our stu...

Wnt proteins and their cognate receptors play a significant role in malignant diseases, in particular in prostate cancer (PCa). We previously showed that WNT5A inhibits PCa cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in vitro, leading to reduced PCa growth in vivo. However, the involved receptors remain unknown. Here, we determine the role of two Wnt receptors (FZD8, RYK) and their influence on the WNT5A-induced effects on PCa cells.The ex...

Objectives: Vitamin D is essential for bone modeling/remodeling but the relationship between vitamin D status, bone mineral density (BMD) and bone quality parameters remains controversial especially in adolescent population. The aims of this study wase to evaluate the vitamin D status and its correlation with BMD and bone quality parameters among adolescent girls in Hong Kong where information is lacking.Methods: 156 adolescent girls (11–15 years ol...

Introduction and objective: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a three-dimensional spinal deformity with lateral curvature of ≧10 degree measured by Cobb angle. Previous studies reported that ~30% of female AIS patients had systemic osteopenia which could persist beyond skeletal maturity and that was one of the important prognostic factors. The aim of this study is to investigate the incremental prognostic value of osteopenia on curve progression in AIS as defined...

Objectives: Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) is associated with low bone mass. This study aimed at evaluating the therapeutic effect and its determinants of Ca+Vit-D supplementation in improving bone strength and preventing curve progression in AIS.Methods: This was a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trial recruiting AIS girls (11–14 years old, Tanner stage<IV) with femoral neck BMDZ-scores<0 and Cobb angle≥15°. 3...

Clinical data suggest that the mTOR inhibitor everolimus may have bone protective effects in addition to its anti-tumor effects in women with ER+/HER2− metastatic breast cancer receiving hormone-ablative therapies. Based on these findings, we tested the hypothesis, whether everolimus exerts concurrent anti-tumor effects while protecting the skeleton in murine models. Thus, we assessed bone metabolism and anti-tumor effects in osteolytic cancer models upon exposure to eve...