Epidemiologic Study of Bone Marrow Fat and Osteoporosis

描述（由申请人提供）：与女性相比，老年男性骨质疏松症和骨质疏松性骨折的病因和预防知之甚少。尽管骨质疏松症的相关研究取得了实质性进展，但对骨质疏松症的病理生理仍不完全了解。最近的研究发现骨髓脂肪（BMF）可能是年龄相关性骨质疏松症的潜在原因或后果，因为在骨质疏松症患者中观察到较高的BMF及其与成骨细胞和脂肪细胞发生的潜在关系。随着非侵入性骨髓评估技术的出现，对BMF和骨骼健康之间关系的更广泛研究已成为可能。据我们所知，只有少数研究直接研究了BMF和骨密度（BMD）之间的关系，这些研究主要集中在中国男性和女性身上。BMF在骨质疏松症中的作用在很多方面仍然未知。首先，目前尚不清楚在中国人群中观察到的骨密度和面积骨密度之间的负相关是否也可以推广到美国人群。此外，传统的面骨密度评估只能提供骨强度的部分信息。BMF是否与真正的体积骨密度、骨强度和骨形成/吸收调节有关，还需要进一步研究。目前的申请旨在通过招募150名正在匹兹堡诊所参加男性骨质疏松性骨折（mrs）研究的男性，提高我们对BMF与骨密度、几何形状和周转之间关系的理解。椎体BMF将使用最先进的磁共振波谱技术进行量化。双能x线吸收仪（DXA）和外周定量断层扫描（pQCT）将被用来获得骨密度（面积和体积），尺寸和强度的测量。此外，还将提供骨转换标记物和生活方式、医学和人体测量特征数据库，以评估骨密度与骨骼健康之间的联系。这项建议的研究将为研究界提供对骨质疏松症，特别是老年男性骨质疏松症病因的新认识。这也为高危人群预防和/或治疗骨质疏松症和骨质疏松性骨折开辟了新的机会。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Compared with women, much less is known about the etiology and prevention of osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures in older men. Despite the substantial progress in osteoporosis-related research, the pathophysiology of osteoporosis remains incompletely understood. Recent studies have suggested a novel factor, bone marrow fat (BMF), as a potential cause or consequence of age-related osteoporosis due to the observation of higher BMF in osteoporotic subjects and its underlying relationship with osteoblast and adipocyte genesis. Broader study of the relationships between BMF and skeletal health has become feasible recently with the availability of non-invasive techniques for assessing bone marrow. To our knowledge, only a handful of studies have directly examined the connection between BMF and bone mineral density (BMD), and these studies have largely focused on Chinese men and women. Many aspects of the role of BMF on osteoporosis remain largely unknown. First, it is not clear whether the inverse association between BMF and areal BMD observed in the Chinese population can also be generalized to US populations. In addition, the conventional areal BMD assessment only provides partial information on bone strength. Whether or not BMF is associated with true volumetric BMD, bone strength, and bone formation/resorption regulation requires further investigation. The current application seeks to improve our understanding of the connection of BMF with bone density, geometry and turnover by recruiting 150 men who are currently participating in the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) study at the Pittsburgh clinic site. Vertebral BMF will be quantified using the-state-of-the-art Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy technique. Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and peripheral quantitative tomography (pQCT) will be employed to obtain measures of bone density (areal and volumetric), size and strength. In addition, bone turnover markers and a database of lifestyle, medical and anthropometric characteristics will also be available to evaluate the link between BMF and skeletal health. This proposed study will provide the research community with novel understanding toward the etiology of osteoporosis, especially in older men. It also opens a new opportunity for prevention and/or treatment of osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures among at-risk populations.