Rifampicin induces the bone form of alkaline phosphatase in humans.

Pregnane X receptor (PXR) is a xenobiotic-sensing nuclear receptor that regulates drug metabolism in the liver and intestine. In our clinical trials on healthy volunteers to discover novel metabolic functions of PXR activation, we observed that rifampicin, a well-established ligand for human PXR, 600 mg daily for a week, increased the plasma alkaline phosphatase (ALP) significantly compared with the placebo. Further analysis with lectin affinity electrophoresis revealed that especially the bone form of ALP was elevated.

Serum biomarkers for Modic changes in patients with chronic low back pain.

Purpose: Lumbar Modic change (MC) can serve as a diagnostic marker as well as an independent source of chronic low back pain (CLBP). This study aimed to test for the existence of serum biomarkers in CLBP patients with MC.

Methods: Age- and sex-matched CLBP patients with confirmed MC on lumbar MRI (n = 40) and pain-free controls (n = 40) were assessed.

Partial Replacement of Animal Proteins with Plant Proteins for 12 Weeks Accelerates Bone Turnover Among Healthy Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Plant-based diets may reduce the risk of chronic diseases, but can also lead to low calcium and vitamin D intakes, posing a risk for bone health.

Objectives: We investigated whether partial replacement of animal proteins with plant-based proteins using a whole-diet approach affects bone and mineral metabolism in healthy adults in 3 groups fed diets differing in protein composition.

Methods: This 12-week clinical trial was comprised of 107 women and 29 men (20-69 years old; BMI mean ± SD, 24.

The Effect of Zoledronic Acid on Serum Biomarkers among Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain and Modic Changes in Lumbar Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

The aim of the current study was to compare changes in serum biomarkers, including inflammatory mediators, signaling molecules, growth factors and markers of bone turnover after a single intravenous infusion of 5 mg zoledronic acid (ZA, a long-acting bisphosphonate; = 20) or placebo ( = 20) among patients with Modic changes (MC) and chronic low back pain in a randomized controlled design. The MCs were classified into M1, predominating M1, predominating M2, and M2. We measured the serum concentrations of 39 biomarkers at baseline, and one month and one year after treatment.

Metformin decreases bone turnover markers in polycystic ovary syndrome: a post hoc study.

Objective: To study the effects of metformin treatment on bone turnover in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), as measured by serum concentrations of bone turnover markers.

Design: Post hoc study of a previously conducted prospective multicenter, placebo-controlled, randomized study.

Setting: University clinic.

Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem cells in a 3D Woven Scaffold.

Fiber-based scaffolds produced by textile manufacturing technology offer versatile materials for tissue engineering applications since a wide range of crucial scaffold parameters, including porosity, pore size and interconnectivity, can be accurately controlled using 3D weaving. In this study, we developed a weavable, bioactive biodegradable composite fiber from poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and hydroxyapatite powder by melt spinning. Subsequently, scaffolds of these fibers were fabricated by 3D weaving.

Low free 25-hydroxyvitamin D and high vitamin D binding protein and parathyroid hormone in obese Caucasians. A complex association with bone?

Background: Studies have shown altered vitamin D metabolism in obesity. We assessed differences between obese and normal-weight subjects in total, free, and bioavailable 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D, 25(OH)DFree, and 25(OH)DBio, respectively), vitamin D binding protein (DBP), parathyroid hormone (PTH) and bone traits.

Methods: 595 37-47-year-old healthy Finnish men and women stratified by BMI were examined in this cross-sectional study.

Autoimmune antibodies to collagen XIII in myasthenia gravis patients.

Introduction: Evaluation of the nerve fascicular structure can be useful in diagnosing nerve damage, but it is a very challenging task with 3T MRI because of limited resolution. In this pilot study, we present the feasibility of high-resolution 7T MRI for examining the nerve fascicular structure.

Methods: A 3-dimensional (3D) gradient-spoiled sequence was used for imaging peripheral nerves in extremities.

Bone markers in polycystic ovary syndrome: A multicentre study.

Objective: Hyperandrogenism, hyperinsulinaemia and obesity, known characteristics of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), may influence bone mineral density and biochemical markers of bone turnover (BTMs) can provide a noninvasive assessment of bone turnover. To this end, the serum concentrations of BTMs and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) were analysed in women with PCOS, and their possible associations with metabolic parameters of PCOS were determined.

Subjects And Methods: Bone formation markers procollagen type I amino-terminal propeptide (PINP) and osteocalcin (OC), and bone resorption marker carboxy-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX), along with 25OHD, were measured in 298 women with PCOS and 194 healthy controls.

The interplay of matrix metalloproteinase-8, transforming growth factor-β1 and vascular endothelial growth factor-C cooperatively contributes to the aggressiveness of oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8) has oncosuppressive properties in various cancers. We attempted to assess MMP-8 function in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC).

Methods: MMP-8 overexpressing OTSCC cells were used to study the effect of MMP-8 on proliferation, apoptosis, migration, invasion and gene and protein expression.

Tenascin-C and fibronectin expression divide early stage tongue cancer into low- and high-risk groups.

Background: Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) metastasises early, especially to regional lymph nodes. There is an ongoing debate on which early stage (T1-T2N0) patients should be treated with elective neck dissection. We need prognosticators for early stage tongue cancer.

Rheumatoid arthritis antigens homocitrulline and citrulline are generated by local myeloperoxidase and peptidyl arginine deiminases 2, 3 and 4 in rheumatoid nodule and synovial tissue.

Background: Seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by autoantibodies binding to citrullinated and homocitrullinated proteins. We wanted to study the expression patterns of these disease-associated protein forms and if the rheumatoid nodule and synovial tissue itself contain biologically active levels of citrullinating peptidyl arginine deiminases 2, 3 and 4 and homocitrullination-facilitating neutrophil enzyme myeloperoxidase.

Method: Total of 195 synovial samples from metatarsal joints from five ACPA/RF-positive RA patients (n = 77), synovial samples from knees of eight seropositive RA (n = 60), seven seronegative RA (n = 33) and five osteoarthritis (n = 25) patients were analyzed for citrulline and homocitrulline contents using HPLC.

Efficacy and Toxicity of Intrathecal Liposomal Cytarabine in First-line Therapy of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

We investigated efficacy and toxicity of replacing conventional triple (cytarabine, methotrexate, and hydrocortisone) intrathecal therapy (TIT) with liposomal cytarabine during maintenance therapy among 40 acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients. Twenty-eight of 29 patients in the TIT arm received TIT and 9/11 in the liposomal cytarabine arm received liposomal cytarabine. Arachnoiditis occurred in all initial 5 patients given liposomal cytarabine and intrathecal prednisolone succinate.

Gelsolin amyloid angiopathy causes severe disruption of the arterial wall.

Hereditary gelsolin amyloidosis (HGA) is a dominantly inherited systemic disease reported worldwide. HGA is characterized by ophthalmological, neurological, and dermatological manifestations. AGel amyloid accumulates at basal lamina of epithelial and muscle cells, thus amyloid angiopathy is encountered in nearly every organ.

Ureido group-specific antibodies are induced in rabbits immunized with citrulline- or homocitrulline-containing antigens.

The specificities and cross-reactions of antibodies induced by citrulline- and homocitrulline-containing proteins may give implications on the role of citrulline- and homocitrulline-binding antibodies in the pathogenesis and progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Here we use rabbits as an experimental model of antibody development in RA. Thirty-two animals were immunized with peptide antigens containing either homocitrulline or citrulline.

Neoplastic extracellular matrix environment promotes cancer invasion in vitro.

The invasion of carcinoma cells is a crucial feature in carcinogenesis. The penetration efficiency not only depends on the cancer cells, but also on the composition of the tumor microenvironment. Our group has developed a 3D invasion assay based on human uterine leiomyoma tissue.

Secretome profiling of oral squamous cell carcinoma-associated fibroblasts reveals organization and disassembly of extracellular matrix and collagen metabolic process signatures.

An important role has been attributed to cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in the tumorigenesis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), the most common tumor of the oral cavity. Previous studies demonstrated that CAF-secreted molecules promote the proliferation and invasion of OSCC cells, inducing a more aggressive phenotype. In this study, we searched for differences in the secretome of CAFs and normal oral fibroblasts (NOF) using mass spectrometry-based proteomics and biological network analysis.

Serum PINP, PIIINP, galectin-3, and ST2 as surrogates of myocardial fibrosis and echocardiographic left venticular diastolic filling properties.

Objectives And Background: Serum biomarkers have been proposed to reflect fibrosis of several human tissues, but their specific role in the detection of myocardial fibrosis has not been well-established. We studied the association between N-terminal propeptide of type I and III procollagen (PINP, PIIINP, respectively), galectin-3 (gal-3), soluble ST2 (ST2), and myocardial fibrosis measured by late gadolinium enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (LGE CMR) and their relation to left ventricular diastolic filling properties measured by tissue Doppler echocardiography (E/e') in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD).

Methods And Results: We determined the PINP, PIIINP, gal-3, and ST2 serum levels and performed LGE CMR and echocardiography on 63 patients with stable CAD without a history of prior myocardial infarction.

Separate and overlapping specificities in rheumatoid arthritis antibodies binding to citrulline- and homocitrulline-containing peptides related to type I and II collagen telopeptides.

Introduction: Our objective was to find out if there are antibodies binding to homocitrulline-containing type I and II collagen carboxyterminal telopeptides in sera of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and if these antibodies cross-react with citrulline and homocitrulline in the same peptide sequence.

Methods: A total of 72 RA and 72 control sera were analyzed for binding using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to citrulline- or homocitrulline-containing type I and II collagen carboxyterminal telopeptides, as well as to cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) and to mutated citrullinated vimentin (MCV). Specificities of the antibodies were tested using inhibition-ELISA.

Automated immunoassays for the autoantibodies to carbamylated or citrullinated telopeptides of type I and II collagens.

Background: The aim of the study was to describe automated immunoassays for autoantibodies to homocitrulline or citrulline containing telopeptides of type I and II collagen in various disease categories in an early arthritis series.

Methods: Serum samples were collected from 142 patients over 16 years of age with newly diagnosed inflammatory joint disease. All samples were analyzed with an automated inhibition chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) using four different peptide pairs, each consisting of a biotinylated antigen and an inhibiting peptide.

Procollagen assays in cancer.

The synthesis rates of fibrillar collagens can be assessed in blood by measuring propeptides set free from corresponding procollagens before fiber formation. Type I collagen is the major component of the organic matrix of bone, but it is also found in other connective tissues. The serum concentration of the amino-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen, PINP, functions as a measure of type I collagen synthesis during normal bone turnover, but it is also released from bone metastases that involve an osteoblastic component.

Anti-heparanase aptamers as potential diagnostic and therapeutic agents for oral cancer.

Heparanase is an endoglycosidase enzyme present in activated leucocytes, mast cells, placental tissue, neutrophils and macrophages, and is involved in tumour metastasis and tissue invasion. It presents a potential target for cancer therapies and various molecules have been developed in an attempt to inhibit the enzymatic action of heparanase. In an attempt to develop a novel therapeutic with an associated diagnostic assay, we have previously described high affinity aptamers selected against heparanase.

Increased type I collagen synthesis in victims of sudden cardiac death due to idiopathic myocardial fibrosis.

Aims: Idiopathic myocardial fibrosis (IMF) was observed to be the most prevalent autopsy finding in the victims of sudden cardiac death (SCD) under the age of 40 years in the FinGesture cohort. To elucidate further the mechanisms of IMF, we examined the collagen composition from the myocardial samples taken from the victims of IMF-associated SCD.

Methods: Eighteen cases with IMF as a cause of death, confirmed by autopsy, were selected for the analysis.