Bone Abstracts

Bone tissue homeostasis requires the coordinated activity of osteoblasts, the bone forming cells, of osteoclasts, the bone resorbing cells, and of osteocytes, generally referred as the bone mechano-sensors. In this contest, osteoblasts are the mesenchymal cells secreting the extracellular matrix components on which hydroxyapatite crystals are then deposited. The most abundant protein of this organic matrix is type I collagen, a heterotrimeric secretory protein, synthesized as ...

Background: Mutations in the SCN8a gene, which encodes one of the most abundant voltage gated sodium channels; Nav1.6, has a strong association with epileptic encephalopathy type 13, ataxia, muscle atrophy and intellectual disability. Previous cases of pathological skeletal fractures in children with known SCN8a mutations have been published but the source of the related skeletal mechanism remains unclear.Presenting problem: The proband presented at 15mo...

It has suggested that BGP is inversely related to body fat. BGP appears to regulate energetic metabolism through the insulin receptor signaling pathway in the osteoblast, which affects bone resorption and BGP activity. Fat tissue is an endocrine organ that secretes different hormones and growth factors; several of them affect bone remodeling and insulin secretion. The present report comparatively studied total BGP levels, glucose homeostasis and body fat mass in spontaneous ob...

Introduction: Currently, the only available method to reliably predict osteoporotic fractures is represented by bone mineral density (BMD) measurements on proximal femur or spine, which require the use of X-rays. Aim of this study is to illustrate working principles and feasibility of a new ultrasound (US) method for bone densitometry and osteoporosis diagnosis applicable on both proximal femur and spine.Methods: A new fully automatic algorithm was devel...

Introduction: Lymphoblastic leukemia is the predominant form of childhood malignancies with survival rates of >80%. Late effects of cancer and treatment can affect endocrine function and may account for acute and chronic impairment of bone health.Aim and design: To assess bone health in pediatric patients after therapy for lymphoblastic leukemia we initiated a clinical trial investigating clinical and biochemical parameters of growth, puberty, bone t...

Acute phase reaction (APR) is the most frequent side effect following i.v. nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates (N-BPs) infusion. A recent observation in osteoporotic women treated with N-BPs evidenced a negative association between 25(OH)D levels and APR, likely due to the immuno-modulatory effects of vitamin D on γδTcells. However, this association remains to be demonstrated in patients with Paget’s disease of bone (PDB). Moreover whether vitamin D supplementat...

Bone disease is the most frequent complication in multiple myeloma (MM) resulting in pain, bone fractures, spinal cord compression and hypercalcemia. Within the bone marrow microenvironment (BMM), MM cells interact with bone cells to enhance bone resorption activity and compromise new bone formation mechanism; in turn, BMM provides a survival and drug resistance framework by interaction of MM cells with bone marrow components. Exosomes are important mediators of crosstalk betw...

Alkaline phosphatase activity is critical for the mineralization of the bone matrix. Indeed, inactivating mutations of the ALPL gene, encoding the isoenzyme expressed in bone and liver, may result in the severe abnormalities of bone and other connective tissues that characterize hypophosphatasia. Nevertheless, the clinical spectrum of hypophosphatasia is rather broad and variable between a within families. Thus, along severe infantile forms, there are adult forms with mild man...

Bone is a complex tissue constituted by a mineral phase, hydroxyapatite, and an organic phase, mainly represented by collagen type I. Specialized cells are responsible for bone formation and remodeling. Osteoblasts represent the bone forming cells, osteocyte are the orchestrator of bone remodeling through regulation of the other bone cells activity, by functioning as endocrine cells and by acting as mechanosensor, and osteoclasts, the bone resorbing cells. Mesenchymal osteopro...

Objectives: Two important goals of the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network Brittle Bone Disorders Consortium (RDCRN BBD) are i) to perform collaborative clinical research in brittle bone disorders including a longitudinal observational study driven by genotypic association and ii) to explore use of the PROMIS tool to provide valid quality of life (QOL) measures in individuals with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). This work has been motivated by the fact that all current outco...