Tweaking a Gene Could Rebuild Bone

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists say the manipulation of a single gene, called Pten, boosted bone density in mice.

This research may help in the development of new treatments for osteoporosis and bone fractures, the researchers said.

A team from the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that disrupting Pten in bone cells called osteoblasts resulted in dramatic and progressively increasing bone density.

"Bone density can increase either because more bone cells divide or fewer cells die due to apoptosis (programmed cell death). Pten is a tumor suppressor gene that applies a break on the main cell survival pathway, causing cells to die. We devised a way to remove the Pten break in bone cells, allowing the cells to stay alive and active for a longer period of time," Thomas L. Clemens, professor of pathology and director of the university's division of molecular and cellular pathology, said in a prepared statement.

"In the mice without Pten, osteoblast cells survived longer and continued to make new bone long after they ordinarily would have died," explained Clemens. "This increased osteoblast production led to greater bone density. If we can translate these findings to human conditions such as osteoporosis or bone fracture, we can potentially not only prevent bone loss but actually increase bone density in humans as they age."

Humans naturally lose bone as they age, partly due to the loss of osteoblast cells that have died.

The study was published Jan. 29 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.