title: Serum sclerostin levels decline in post-menopausal women with osteoporosis following treatment with intermittent parathyroid hormone.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was carried out in order to evaluate the effect of 18-month treatment with PTH (1-34) or PTH (1-84) on serum sclerostin levels in humans.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated 10 women with severe osteoporosis, previously treated with alendronate and 20 untreated osteoporotic women. Subjects with severe osteoporosis were randomly divided into 2 groups of 5 patients each; the first group was treated with 20 μg of PTH (1-34) and the second one with 100 μg of PTH (1-84) according to an open-label design. Fasting blood samples were collected at baseline and at 2, 4, and 24 h after hormone administration. The same protocol was followed at month 1, 6, 12, 18. Serum sclerostin levels were measured at each time point by a sandwich-type enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Basal serum sclerostin levels were not significantly different between patients previously treated with alendronate and those never treated. No significant acute change of serum sclerostin levels was observed after PTH administration. Fitting a mixed effect regression model, we found a significant time effect (p=0.0012) using the sclerostin level as the response variable and the month of drug administration as a single covariate. Treatment with both PTH molecules induced a monthly mean reduction of sclerostin levels of 0.1956 pmol/l.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that long-term therapy with PTH (1-34) or PTH (1-84) in women with osteoporosis previously treated with alendronate is associated with a reduction in circulating sclerostin levels. This is a putative mechanism through which PTH performs its anabolic action.
authors: Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Disciplines, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Piemonte
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Romagnoli
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Bratengeier
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Woloszczuk
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Tancredi
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Pepe
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Cipriani
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Minisola
mesh_terms: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D000368:Aged; D019386:Alendronate / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015519:Bone Density / Q000187:drug effects*; D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D010281:Parathyroid Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D017698:Postmenopause; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; D005819:Genetic Markers; D010281:Parathyroid Hormone; C422903:SOST protein, human; D019386:Alendronate