Ho et al. found that upadacitinib may impede the progression of bone erosion in patients with RA. Additionally, bone scans of patients with limited exposure to conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs showed bone erosion regression, which may result from upadacitinib’s inhibition of Janus kinase 1.
ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—Attention to bone health in people at risk of developing, or who already have, osteoporosis is essential to reduce their increased risk for fragility fractures. Major risk factors for osteoporosis include being female, white, of small frame and having a family history of osteoporosis, as well as having secondary causes of osteoporosis, such…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Using bisphosphonates for several years is associated with increasing brittleness and decreasing toughness of bone, according to a new review. “Long-term treatment with bisphosphonates can have negative side effects in some people because of their effects on bone toughness [toughness = the energy that bone tissue can absorb before cracking],” David B….
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Iguratimod, a disease-modifying drug marketed in China and Japan, appears to be effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and possibly other autoimmune diseases, while protecting against adverse bone effects, researchers from China say. Iguratimod is a methane sulfonanilide compound that influences several anti-inflammatory and immune-modulatory pathways and has an anabolic effect on…
An FDA advisory committee voted 18-1 in favor of approving romosozumab to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.
Patients with rheumatic diseases may be undertreated for osteoporosis. To decrease fracture risk for at-risk patients, rheumatologists can engage patients in shared decision making with regular screening and education about treatment options…
Can principles from engineering provide a broader understanding of how the human skeleton works and be used to help prevent a common and often consequential event for people as they age—bone fractures? Research from a team of investigators that includes orthopedic surgeons and mechanical engineers suggests that, yes, looking at how engineered materials, such as…
Aging bones lose their ability to mechanoadapt, but new research suggests age-related adaptation failure may result from insufficient mechanical stimulus…
What factors drive inflammation and progressive disease in ankylosing spondylitis (AS)? The answers have long eluded rheumatologists. Although 90% of patients with AS test positive for the HLA-B27 gene, pieces remain missing in our understanding of this chronic, inflammatory disease, which often leads to pain, spinal fusion and, in about half of patients, gut involvement,…
New research in mice shows that sclerostin deficiency may play a significant role in bone formation, possibly despite skeletal age. In the study, sclerostin-deficient mice more readily formed cortical bone and had increases in periosteal bone formation rates, as well as increased expression of the Wnt inhibitor Dkk1, than controls…