Anti-RANKL therapy for inflammatory bone disorders: Mechanisms and potential clinical applications

✍ Scribed by Allen P. Anandarajah; Edward M. Schwarz

• Book ID: 102302646
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 133 KB
• Volume: 97
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0730-2312
• DOI: 10.1002/jcb.20674

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Focal bone loss around inflamed joints in patients with autoimmune disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis, remains a serious clinical problem. The recent elucidation of the RANK/RANK‐ligand/OPG pathway and its role as the final effector of osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption has brought a tremendous understanding of the pathophysiology of inflammatory bone loss, and has heightened expectation of a novel intervention. Here, we review the etiology of inflammatory bone loss, the RANK/RANK‐ligand/OPG pathway, and the clinical development of anti‐RANK‐ligand therapy. J. Cell. Biochem. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.