Discoveries
Rutgers research that made the news this summer
Archived article from Oct 8, 1999
Genes, proteins and osteoporosis
Osteoporosis, the progressive loss of bone density, is one of the most common diseases affecting postmenopausal women and can lead to increased bone fractures and diminished quality of life. In the United States, the number of osteoporosis patients is estimated at 12 million with an associated medical cost of about $1.2 billion.
But what causes this condition? Rutgers researchers David T. Denhardt and Susan R. Rittling, together with Hiroyuki Yoshitake and Masaki Noda of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, may have found part of the answer while researching the role of the protein osteopontin (OPN) and the genes whose expression it controls. Their findings were published in the July 6 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
OPN, produced by bone cells and regarded as functionally important in the regulation of bone metabolism, is not required for normal bone development. But it is required for certain types of bone remodeling and strengthens the defenses of the body against certain forms of infection and injury. Considerable evidence also suggests that it facilitates the growth and spread of cancer cells. Indeed, Denhardt's lab first began investigating OPN as part of a cancer study.
To examine the effects of OPN on bone loss, Rittling, a research assistant professor at Rutgers, together with her colleagues developed a genetically altered strain of mice that lacks the ability to produce OPN. Noda's group then surgically removed the ovaries from mice of this strain to simulate the falloff of estrogen production in postmenopausal women when their ovarian function decreases.
"When compared with a series of various control samples, we found that mice lacking OPN were significantly more resistant to the bone loss that accompanies estrogen depletion," said Denhardt, professor of cell biology and neuroscience at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences-New Brunswick.
While no information exists regarding OPN deficiency in humans, the investigations of the Rutgers scientists and their colleagues present a compelling argument that some postmenopausal women might be expected to show enhanced resistance to osteoporosis because they possess an altered form of OPN.
"We propose that OPN is essential for postmenopausal osteoporosis," state the researchers in the PNAS paper. "Strategies to counteract OPN's action may prove effective in suppressing osteoporosis. Genetic analyses may predict certain patients who could have high or low risk of postmenopausal bone loss."
If the role of OPN in the spread of cancer cells can be fully delineated, the control strategies for the action of OPN will have implications for the treatment of cancer as well.
-- Joseph Blumberg
Bioprospecting for new drugs Some 25 percent of prescription drugs contain active agents derived from higher plants. These include aspirin, commercialized a century ago based on a compound from a willow tree, and the breast-cancer fighter tamoxifen, derived in the last decade from the bark of a yew. Yet this number might be far greater if the pharmaceutical industry didn't find itself stymied in its search for reliable techniques for detecting and isolating novel plant compounds for drug discovery.
Now, using a technique he likens to irritating an oyster to make a pearl, Ilya Raskin, a professor of plant science at Rutgers' Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the Environment at Cook College, has developed a set of technologies that make it easier to elicit chemicals from plants. His research is sponsored by Phytomedics, a start-up biomedical company founded by Raskin that is currently licensing Rutgers technology.
Raskin presented his research at the XVI International Botanical Congress in St. Louis, where more than 4,000 scientists from 100 countries met to discuss the latest results of research on plants for human survival and improved quality of life.
"Plants are the world's best biochemists, making 80 percent of all known natural products on the planet," Raskin said. "Since plants can't run and hide from predators as animals do, they've evolved into 'chemical chameleons,' making the necessary compounds to protect themselves from environmental stresses." Such stresses include heat, drought and disease.
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