Bone Fragility
Bone fragility affects more than 200 million people in the world and includes diseases like osteoporosis and osteogenesis imperfecta, among others. Although the triggering factors that mediate the onset and severity of these diseases are diverse (aging, metabolic alterations, hormonal alterations, and genetic mutations), all of them share a common factor: an imbalance between bone formation and resorption.
For decades, treatment of these disorders has been based in the use of anti-catabolic strategies (to inhibit bone resorption) and only limited treatments use anabolic inducers like PTH (to induce bone formation). These strategies, however, do not solve the intrinsic problem but simply modulate bone turnover to delay progression of the disease.
In this section we present some of our projects applying personalized medicine to bone fragility disorders:
1. Cellular stress
During the last decade, Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress has emerged as a common cellular pathological process for a number of diseases (diabetes, inflammation related disorders such as osteoarthritis, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer, Parkinson and Bipolar disorder and skeletal pathologies like osteoporosis and osteogénesis imperfecta (OI)). OI is one of these diseases because bone cells are especially sensitive to ER stress due to the large amount of ECM they secrete. We summarize these disorders under the term stressopathy.
2. New precision treatments for bone fragility
Bone fragility is a medical condition present in many diseases in which bone quality is lower than normal and results in weakened bones at increased risk of fractures. A wide variety of diseases associated with bone fragility (osteoporosis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, osteogenesis imperfecta, hyperparathyroidism, among others) reflect that low bone quality is highly relevant to human health, affecting over 200 million people worldwide. Our studies have revealed that modulating cellular stress with 4-PBA, a widely used and FDA approved drug, bone quality is improved and growth partially restored.
1. Cellular stress
During the last decade, Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress has emerged as a common cellular pathological process for a number of diseases (diabetes, inflammation related disorders such as osteoarthritis, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer, Parkinson and Bipolar disorder and skeletal pathologies like osteoporosis and osteogénesis imperfecta (OI)). OI is one of these diseases because bone cells are especially sensitive to ER stress due to the large amount of ECM they secrete. We summarize these disorders under the term stressopathy.
2. New precision treatments for bone fragility
Bone fragility is a medical condition present in many diseases in which bone quality is lower than normal and results in weakened bones at increased risk of fractures. A wide variety of diseases associated with bone fragility (osteoporosis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, osteogenesis imperfecta, hyperparathyroidism, among others) reflect that low bone quality is highly relevant to human health, affecting over 200 million people worldwide. Our studies have revealed that modulating cellular stress with 4-PBA, a widely used and FDA approved drug, bone quality is improved and growth partially restored.