Endocrine Abstracts

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs that control the expression of 70% of the protein-coding genes. Since their discovery in the late 1990s, the function of miRNAs in the context of biological pathways that are essential to bone homeostasis has been investigated. This has expanded our understanding of the mechanisms underlying bone health and disease and led to the identification of novel drug and biomarker candidates. From a diagnostic viewpoint the seminal finding that mi...

Metabolic changes in Type-2 Diabetes-Mellitus (T2DM) make patients more prone to develop osteoporosis and delayed bone healing. We hypothesize that microRNAs could be involved in the underlying mechanism and used as biomarkers in this context. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed microRNAs in samples from Zucker Diabetic Fatty (ZDF) rats, a T2DM model with reduced bone healing and bone mass. 11-week-old male ZDF and wildtype rats with a femur subcritical defect were treated wi...