Bone Abstracts

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...

Background: Hypophosphatasia is generally regarded as a disease of bone and teeth. Lack of Tissue Non-Specific Alkaline Phosphatase (TNAP) leads to an accumulation of inorganic pyrophosphate and the Vitamin B6 metabolite pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP), a reduction in pyridoxic acid (PA) and increased PLP/PA ratio. Vitamin B6 deficiency in the brain impairs synthesis of neurotransmitters, and is a well-recognised cause of neonatal seizures. We have found no previous reports...

Background: Congenital multiple hormone deficiency (CMHD) is a rare condition caused by mutations in transcription factors involved in pituitary ontogenesis1. Incidence of mutations in POU1F1 gene in results between 3.8 and 7.7%2. POU1F1 gene mutations lead to somatolactotroph and thryotroph deficiencies. Brain MRI can be normal or shows pituitary hypoplasia without extrapituitary anomalies.Presenting problem: We describe the growth...

Background: Weyers acrofacial dysostosis (WAD, OMIM 193530) is a rare autosomal dominant disease, characterized by mildly short stature, postaxial polydactyly, nail dystrophy and dental anomalies. WAD should be distinguished from Ellis-van Creveld syndrome (OMIM 225500), a similar but more severe disease, comprising chondrodysplasia, orofacial anomalies and, in a proportion of patients, cardiovascular malformations. Both diseases are caused by mutations in either EVC or EVC2<s...

Objectives: A role for glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) in controlling extracellular bone matrix deposition and maturation has previously been evidenced in GIP receptor knock-out mice. However, as the GIP receptor is expressed in several tissues other than bone it was difficult to ascertain whether the modifications of extracellular bone matrix were due to direct effects on osteoblasts or indirect through regulation of signals originating from other tissues. ...

Objectives: Craniosynostosis is a skeletal birth defect, resulting in premature fusion of cranial sutures. The patency of the sutures is essential to enable the growth of the skull in compliance to the developing brain. Mutations in TWIST1 and TCF12 have been identified in patients with Saethre-Chotzen syndrome, which is typically associated with coronal synostosis. Studies in mouse models suggest that the quantity of TCF12-TWIST1 heterodimers is one critical...

Overall cure rates for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have improved allowing the cure of over 85% of patients. At least 70% of survivors of childhood ALL cancers have substantial morbidities as a result of their treatment. There is evidence that survivors of ALL have increased rates of long-term skeletal muscle dysfunction and weakness. Our objective was to determine the percentage of patients with muscle dysfunctions (muscle force, power, endurance, and % of fit...

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...

Despite mutations in SQSTM1 gene have been detected in up to 50% of patients with familial Paget’s disease of bone (PDB), their prevalence is low in sporadic PDB, likely due to the presence of additional predisposition genes. Recently, at least seven genes were associated with PDB in genome-wide-association studies, including polymorphic variation in OPTN,encoding for optineurin. In particular, a single OPTN variant (rs1561570) was highly associated with...