Osteoporosis has serious health consequences. One-fifth of patients with osteoporosis who fracture their hips will die within a year. As the baby boomer generation gets older, it is predicted that the number of hip fractures may triple by 2020 unless better prevention and treatment for the disease is improved.
The researchers, led by Dallas Jones, a research associate in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Marc Wein, an MD, PhD student, and senior author Laurie Glimcher, Professor of Immunology, observed that augmented osteoblast activity, rather than impaired osteoclast activity, was responsible for the elevated bone mass. Osteoblasts are cells that form new bone. Jones, Wein and their colleagues found that Shn3 formed a complex with a protein known as WWP1; together, the pair degrades Runx2, a transcription factor that is the master regulator of osteoblast differentiation, which activates key bone formation genes. By removing Shn3 or WWP1, Runx2 doesnt degrade, which leads to increased bone mass.
The authors believe that targeting Shn3 and WWP1 for drug discovery is an exciting prospect. Glimcher's lab has forged a collaboration with Brandeis University biochemist Greg Petsko to find compounds that inhibit the two proteins, which could lead to new
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Contact: Todd Datz
tdatz@hsph.harvard.edu
617-432-3952
Harvard School of Public Health
22-Jun-2006