Targeting Bone Remodeling For the Treatment of Osteoporosis

描述（由申请人提供）：这是骨生物学领域的一个非常激动人心的时期。在过去的几年里，我们对骨骼模型和重塑有了很大的了解，这些信息已经应用于骨质疏松症和相关骨骼疾病的治疗。这些知识已经扩展到几年前还无法理解的领域。例如，骨细胞家族本身，成骨细胞和破骨细胞，以前被认为在骨重塑单元中协同工作，现在已经加入了骨细胞，一种新认识到在这些细胞和其他系统的信号传导中起关键作用的细胞。这些骨细胞的产物，也是新认识到的，正在确定的过程和机制，延伸到分子控制机制的核心。这些新知识已经跨越了广泛的学科，包括细胞和分子生物学、遗传学、流行病学、工程学、生物力学、成像、材料科学、免疫学和综合器官生理学。除了传统的学科领域，如内分泌学和风湿病学，该领域现在因这些其他领域的交叉受精而丰富，从而产生了新的想法和新的知识。因此，在这个时候举行一次会议是适当的，以便审议这些进展，并使这些不同领域的专家能够聚集在一起。这个想法是为了产生更多令人兴奋的想法和治疗骨质疏松症的方法，骨质疏松症是我们老龄化人口残疾的主要原因。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a time of great excitement in the field of bone biology. In the past several years, we have gained great insight into how bone models and remodels, and this information has been applied to the treatment of osteoporosis and related skeletal disorders. Such knowledge has extended itself into areas that just a few years ago would have been incomprehensible. For example, the family of bone cells themselves, the osteoblast and the osteoclast, formerly thought to work in concert within the bone remodeling unit, now have been joined by the osteocyte, a cell newly recognized to play a pivotal role in signaling these cells and other systems. Products of these bone cells, also newly recognized, are identifying processes and mechanisms that extend to the very heart of molecular control mechanisms. This new knowledge has spanned a wide spectrum of disciplines that include cell and molecular biology, genetics, epidemiology, engineering, biomechanics, imaging, material sciences, immunology, and integrative organ physiology. Along with traditional areas that have housed the discipline, such as endocrinology and rheumatology, the field is now enriched with cross fertilization from these other areas, leading to new ideas and new knowledge. It is appropriate at this time, therefore, to hold a meeting in which these advances can be considered and in which experts in these various areas can gather together. The idea is to generate even more exciting ideas and therapeutic approaches to osteoporosis, which is a major cause of disability in our aging population. We believe it is important at this time to bring together clinical, basic and translational investigators to discuss these new advances with a view that will have therapeutic relevance. The proposed meeting will serve as an important step towards translating new knowledge into new therapeutic concepts. In addition, this meeting will identify key questions for future research. The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research is the premier society for the study and advancement of basic and clinical research in disorders relating to the skeleton. The considerations described above make it very clear that this is the time for senior thought leaders, mid-career investigators and young investigators to gather together in concert with NIH Institutes' staff. Information derived from the exchanges at such a meeting will serve to provide the NIH with novel ideas about programs worthy of support in future years and lead to a vibrant exchange of ideas and a definition of vital pathways for future advances in research and treatment.