http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011015/hl/boneloss_1.html
Monday October 15 5:24 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An experimental vaccine has
been shown to help halt bone loss in mouse models of osteoporosis and
rheumatoid arthritis.
The vaccine seeks to block the action of a molecule known as receptor
activator of NF-kappaB ligand, or RANKL.
This molecule is known to play a role in the development of bone cells.
Evidence is mounting that it also may be responsible for the destruction of
bone that occurs in the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis and in rheumatoid
arthritis, Dr. Mark Hertz of vaccine maker Pharmexa A/S in Horsholm, Denmark,
told Reuters Health in an interview.
Hertz reported on studies of the vaccine in mice Friday in Phoenix, Arizona,
during the 23rd Annual Meeting of The American Society for Bone and Mineral
Research.
Normally, removing the ovaries of mice causes them to lose bone. But mice
given the RANKL AutoVac vaccine before having their ovaries removed did not
lose bone mass.
And in mice genetically engineered to develop an inflammatory joint disease
similar to rheumatoid arthritis, the vaccine ``almost completely prevented bone
destruction,'' Hertz and colleagues from The University of Tokyo and Tokyo
Medical and Dental University note.
Mice given the vaccine also had fewer osteoclasts, which are cells that
break down old bone.
``We're now developing humanized versions of this vaccine,'' Hertz told Reuters
Health. ``They are going into preclinical development and hope to enter phase I
trials in 2003.''
ALL
INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR
GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE
KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED
AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO
VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU
ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.