Osteoprotegerin ligand: a regulator of immune responses and bone physiology

✍ Scribed by Young-Yun Kong; William J Boyle; Josef M Penninger

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 274 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0167-5699
• DOI: 10.1016/s0167-5699(00)01718-7

✦ Synopsis

orphogenesis and remodeling of bone is a physiologically controlled process that involves the synthesis of bone matrix by osteoblasts and the coordinate resorption of bone by osteoclasts 1 . Imbalances between osteoclast and osteoblast activities can arise from a wide variety of hormonal changes or perturbations of inflammatory and growth factors, resulting in skeletal abnormalities characterized by decreased (osteoporosis) or increased (osteopetrosis) bone mass. Local or generalized bone loss has been reported in many diseases, including chronic infection, leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis as well as many osteopenic disorders, including postmenopausal osteoporosis, Paget's disease or lytic bone metastases, suggesting that an activated immune system could affect bone physiology. In particular, rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by a chronic inflammation of joints and infiltration by activated T cells and monocytes 2,3 . Here, we discuss the genetic and functional links between bone metabolism and the immune system that explain bone loss in chronic viral infections and cancer, and crippling in arthritis.