Drugs called statins, taken by tens of millions of people to lower their cholesterol levels, may be beneficial for bones as well. In tomorrow Science , the researchers suggest that statins trigger bone growth in rodents. If they work the same in humans, statins could be the first drug capable of stimulating growth of bones weakened by osteoporosis, a disease that often affects postmenopausal women.
Statins levels of blood cholesterol by blocking an enzyme called HMG CoA reductase -A, which helps synthesize lipids. But there were already indications that drugs could do much more than that. For example, a 1998 analysis of many studies have shown that people who take medications in large clinical trials had lower death rates from all causes, not just heart disease.
Even so, the effect on the bone was a "total surprise," says endocrinologist Greg Mundy biotechnology company OsteoScreen and the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. He and his team was screening a library of 30,000 natural compounds to find potential medicines that strengthen bone. What they wanted was something to stimulate the production of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2), which stimulates bone growth . a single compound worked :. lovastatin, a molecule derived from a strain of the fungus Aspergillus terreus
to check the actions of the drug in animals, the team injected lovastatin in the fabric above the cap bones of young mice. After dosing the animals three times a day for 5 days, the researchers found that the bone treated increased by nearly 50% greater than in mice injected with a control solution. Another statin called simvastatin, also looked promising, this time in female rats whose ovaries were removed to mimic the hormonal changes of menopause, when many women begin to lose bone density. In rats given oral doses of statins for 35 days, the leg bones and vertebrae were nearly twice as dense as in rats that received placebo. How the drug works is still a mystery.
The observation could be "a real breakthrough" in osteoporosis, says Lawrence Riggs, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, since the drugs available today can slow bone current loss, but can not completely repair the weakened bones. The researchers point out that the doses used to control cholesterol levels may be too low to strengthen bones. However, work can point to similar molecules that could better promote bone formation. - Perhaps with the bonus of lower cholesterol
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