Bone Abstracts

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...

Background: Proteus syndrome (PS) is a rare mosaic disorder comprising asymmetric bony and soft tissue overgrowth leading to significant morbidity. Placement of guided growth hardware with subsequent epiphyseal arrest improves leg length and angular deformities in pediatric patients without PS.Presenting problem: The purpose of this study was to review the surgical approach and present outcomes, complications, and recommendations in eight patients with P...

Objectives: Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) type XIV is a recessive OI form characterized by bone fragility, multiple fractures and growth retardation. It is caused by mutation in TMEM38B gene encoding the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) channel TRIC-B. This channel allows the transport of K+ across the ER membrane modulating Ca2+ flux. Defective ER Ca2+ impaires collagen type I synthesis, likely affecting the activity of ER enzymes involved in its post translational modification. To ...

Achondroplasia is the commonest form of dwarfism. Key features in infancy impacting positioning are rhizomelia, spinal deformities and large head size. Both standard high chairs and specialized adaptive seating are currently inadequate to meet the needs of these infants. This is due to their anatomical limitations and the guidance for supportive positioning in this group of children, which recommend that a flat, elongated spine is optimal, avoiding a ‘C shape’, as is...

Children with 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD) need chronic glucocorticoid (cGC) therapy to replace congenital deficit of cortisol synthesis, and this therapy is the most frequent and severe form of drug-induced osteoporosis. In the study we enrolled 18 patients (9 females) and 18 sex- and age-matched controls. We found in 21-OHD patients high serum and leukocyte levels of dickkopf-1 (DKK1), a secreted antagonist of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, known to be a key...

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...