Bone Abstracts

Over the past decade the importance of the bone marrow environment has been recognised for the development and maintenance of the haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche. Both osteoblasts and endothelial cells have been shown to provide a home for HSC within the bone marrow. This interaction is not a one sided affair and recent work has shown that HSC and myeloid cells are capable of driving osteoblast development thus perpetuating the niche itself. The coupled relationship betwe...

Haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niches are complex structures located in the trabecular regions of the bone in association with bone-lining osteoblasts (endosteal niches) or with perivascular primitive mesenchymal cells (perivascular niches). These cells provide molecular signals that control HSC fate in terms of self-renewal, proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, homing, quiescence, etc. Osteoclasts have been implicated in HSC mobilization in response to stress or pharmac...

Dysfunctions of osteoclasts are the pathophysiological hallmark of osteopetrosis (OP). OP is a group of rare inherited human diseases caused by mutations in at least seven different genes. All OP forms are clinical characterized by enhanced bone density. The most severe form infantile OP usually presents with hematological impairment, in particular anemia and thrombocytopenia associated with extra medullary hematopoiesis, leukocytosis and hepatosplenomegaly.<p class="abste...

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The Wnt pathway engages both canonical and non-canonical signalling to accomplish a salutary benefit of increased bone mass, as evidenced by the presence of individuals with high bone mass, who exhibit specific functional variants in members of the pathway. This talk will highlight the importance of the influence on Wnt signalling being received by the bone in response to loading and the signals emanating from bone that influence overall metabolism and health in the whole anim...

Recent studies have demonstrated that activin signalling plays a crucial role in the skeleton. Activins control both osteoblast and osteoclast function and are present in the bone extracellular matrix. This makes activin signalling an important new therapeutic target for a dual anabolic antiresorptive intervention in osteoporosis.Activins belong to the large TGF-β superfamily that also includes BMPs, TGFβs and GDFs. Like other TGF-β member...

A number of cancers develop in the skeleton or will metastasize to bone, including multiple myeloma and solid tumours such as breast and prostate cancer. Once established in the skeleton, cancer cells have the ability to modify the environment and cause devastating bone disease. The last decade has seen considerable progress in defining the critical cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible and also identified new roles for the cells of bone in the pathogenesis of metastas...

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