Osteoarthritis very much treatable with PTH therapy

According to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research in Denver, a presently recommended osteoporosis drug can prove to be effective for preventing cartilage loss arising due to osteoarthritis after a joint injury.

Currently followed drugs such as steroids or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (e.g. Advil, Aleve) may be useful for reducing pain but not effective for addressing loss of cartilage because of osteoarthritis, which is assumed to affect more than 50 million people by 2020 in the United States alone.

From News-Medical.Net:

Parathyroid hormone (PTH), known as teriparatide in drug form, has emerged as a major player in the maintenance and healing of bone, and the race is on to design new applications for it. Past studies have established that PTH prevents chondrocytes from undergoing maturation, and stimulates their proliferation, preserving larger pools of cartilage cells in the joint. Signaling molecules like PTH have their effect in the body by interacting with specifically shaped proteins on the cell surfaces called receptors. PTH docks into its receptors, like a ship coming into port, which changes the shape of the dock such that biochemical signals are sent.

The authors of the current study observed that chondrocytes within injured and degenerating cartilage have more PTH type 1 receptors on their surfaces. This makes them especially sensitive to the PTH signal that prevents harmful chondrocyte maturation into bone in the joint cartilage. Thus, PTH therapy should increase the cartilage supply exactly where cartilage loss is causing disease.

Randy Rosier, M.D., Ph.D., professor within the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at the University ofRochester Medical Center , said that physicians are left with no answer when it comes to restoration of the cartilage in patients suffering from osteoarthritis.

Tags: Advil, Aleve, cartilage loss, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, osteoporosis drug, Steroids

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.