Bone Abstracts

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...

We previously evidenced a reduced response to i.v. pamidronate in Q15STM1 mutation carriers (Q15STM1+) with Paget’s disease of bone (PDB). In order to confirm and extend this observation, we investigated the effect of Q15STM1 mutation and polymorphisms in three genes associated with PDB (TNFRSF11A; OPTN; TNFRSF11B) on the response to bisphosphonates. First, a retrospective study was performed in 335 patients treated wi...

Sclerostin, encoded by the SOST gene, functions as an inhibitor of the Wnt pathway and thus it is an important regulator of bone homeostasis. The fact that osteoblasts, the only cells expressing SOST, lay buried deeply in the bone matrix, poses intrinsic difficulties to the study of the regulation of this gene. Since RUNX2 and SP7/OSX are two known regulators of the differentiation of cells of the osteoblastic lineage, the aim of this study was to determine t...

Introduction: In rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients subclinical atherosclerosis and cardiovascular events (CV) occur more frequently and at younger ages than in the general population. Previous data suggest that heterogeneous plaques on USA are more unstable and frequently contain a higher amount of lipids and which make them hypoechoic and had higher potential for embolization and thrombosis. The aim of our work was to estimate the prevalence and the ultrasound morphology of ...

Cadmium is characterized by oxidative properties and this heavy metal-induced oxidative stress has been recognized to be involved in its injurious impact on the skeleton. Oxidative/reductive processes are an integral component of bone remodeling; however, destroying of the bone tissue oxidative/antioxidative status with excessive production and accumulation of reactive oxygen species has detrimental impact on bone metabolism. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate whet...

Tumors contain a small population of cancer stem cells (CSC) proposed to be responsible for tumor maintenance and relapse. Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) activity has been used as a functional stem cell marker to isolate CSCs in different cancer types. This study used the Aldefluor assay and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis to isolate ALDH1high cells from five human sarcoma cell lines and one primary chordoma cell line. ALDH1high cell...

Marine cyanobacteria have been recognized as an important source of bioactive compounds. The cytotoxicity on cancer cell lines has been extensively explored and several cyanobacteria metabolites are already described as potential anticancer compounds or are considered useful templates for the design of new anticancer drugs. The majority of compounds have been isolated from filamentous or colonial cyanobacteria that growth in high densities along shores. In contrast, picoplankt...

Biological calcification is a regulated process in which different types of tissues, cells and biomolecules participate in the coordination and regulation of the metabolic events involved in accumulating large amounts of calcium phosphate. This process could be speeded up using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) systems. The objective of our study was to compare cell growth and formation of mineralized matrix nodules by osteoblasts grown in plastic and in titanium (Ti) discs surfaces. Th...

The biomineralization process is initiated inside matrix vesicles (MVs), with phosphate and calcium ions crystallizing as hydroxyapatite. This process is accomplished by the activities of several proteins, such as annexins (e.g. AnxV) that mediates Ca2+ influx into MVs and tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP), a phosphomonohydrolase that uses ATP and PPi as substrates. Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and dipalmitoylphosphatidylserine (DPPS...

Bone is constantly being molded and shaped by the action of osteoclasts and osteoblasts. A proper equilibrium between both cell types metabolic activities is required to ensure an adequate skeletal tissue structure, and it involves resorption of old bone and formation of new bone tissue. It is reported that treatment with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) can elicit alterations in skeletal structure, in particular in bone mineral density. Nevertheless, the knowledge regarding the eff...