Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Statins are widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs. They inhibit cholesterol synthesis through inhibition of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase. They have also been recently identified as bone stimulatory agents (Mundy et al., 1999). They have been found to increase the expression of BMP-2 that triggers a cascade of events leading to increased bone formation. However, the exact mechanism for the stimulatory action of statins is not fully elucidat...

Pain due to bone metastases can be relieved by local radiotherapy (RT). The mechanism of pain relief by RT has not been fully elucidated. Inhibition of bone resorption has been proposed as a possible mechanism. Osteoprotegrin (OPG) has been shown to block behaviours indicative of pain in mice with bone metastases and to diminish bone destruction (Honore et al., 2000, Nature Medicine 6; 521–8).The aim of this study was to evaluate serum OPG le...