Bone Abstracts

Constant remodeling of extracellular matrix (ECM) is a hallmark during physiological conditions, such as stem cell differentiation, embryogenesis and tissue repair. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) play a key role in these processes. MMPs, MMP-activator (EMMPRIN/CD147) and MMP-inhibitors (TIMPs and RECK) are responsible for bone matrix remodeling and, probably, determinate the level of its turnover. Mesenchymal stem cells derived from dental pulp are multipotent and have the ca...

Introduction: Mortality after hip fracture is increased. However, only a few studies have explored for predictors beyond gender and age. Thus our aim was to study risk factors associated with increased mortality in hip fracture patients.Methods: Hip fracture patients (>50 years) admitted to a county hospital in 2004–2005 were consecutively invited for assessment at the hospital osteoporosis centre. A broad spectre of data was collected. Standard...

Constant remodeling of extracellular matrix is a hallmark during physiological conditions, such as stem cell differentiation, embryogenesis and tissue repair. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) play a key role in these processes. Mesenchymal stem cells derived from dental pulp are multipotent and have the capacity to differentiate into mesenchymal lineages. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) are a family of signaling molecules critically involved at various stages in the formation...

Objective: The protein kinases, PKR, and PERK have been implicated in pro-inflammatory cytokine-mediated cartilage degradation in vitro and endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced arthritis respectively. The objective of this study was to establish whether loss of P58IPK, an inhibitor of PKR and PERK, results in a degenerative joint phenotype in vivo.Methods: Sections of knee joints from P58IPK-null and wild-type mice...

Osteoblasts produce protein-crosslinking enzymes, transglutaminase 2 (TG2) and factor XIIIA (FXIIIA), which regulate fibronectin matrix stabilization and osteoblast differentiation in vitro. To examine if they are important in bone remodeling and in maintenance of bone quality and mass in vivo, we performed skeletal phenotyping of Tgm2−/− and F13a1−/− mice and generated a double-null Tgm2</em...

Multiple myeloma is an incurable neoplastic disorder of plasma cells, which invade the bone marrow, secrete monoclonal immunoglobulins, and induce bone lesions, hypercalcemia, anemia and renal failure. The development of myeloma relies on vicious interactions with the bone microenvironment, a deeper knowledge of which is needed to identify prognostic markers and potential therapeutic targets. To achieve an unbiased, comprehensive assessment of the extracellular milieu of myelo...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) are systemic, immune-mediated diseases. RA’s main targets are the peripheral joints while AS has the axial skeleton and enthesis as the principal affected areas. RA is characterized by bone erosions and impaired repair whilst AS is typified by bone overgrowth. The causes for these differences are not yet understood; however we hypothesize that AS patients’ monocytes receive reduced osteoclastogenic stimuli and...

In advanced ER+ve breast cancer, the propensity of bone involvement is 85%. Similarly in advanced lung cancer, 30–40% of patients develop bone metastases, and as recent advances in lung cancer therapies improve survival, the number of patients living with bone metastases is expected to increase. At the same time there is a paucity of especially ER+ and osteoblastic animal models available. We present herein the development of four mouse models of breast and lung cancer su...