The role of TWIST family basic Helix-Loop-Helix transcription Factors in Bone Cell Commitment, Function and Repair

在发达国家，预测的估计数预测，由于人口老龄化，未来几十年需要手术干预和康复治疗的骨折数量将增加两到三倍，这是一个令人震惊的趋势。骨折愈合是一个复杂的生理过程，涉及不同的骨髓细胞，免疫细胞和骨骼祖细胞的协调参与。多种因素调节这些细胞类型之间的相互作用，影响骨细胞祖细胞发育成功能性骨形成细胞（称为成骨细胞）的能力。了解骨折愈合对于骨折治疗的未来发展至关重要，对于确定骨骼生长和修复的机制以及衰老和疾病的原因至关重要。该提案旨在确定在骨折修复过程中介导骨细胞祖细胞募集和发育的关键调控分子。

In developed countries, projected estimates predict an alarming trend of a two to three fold increase in the number of fractures that require surgical intervention and rehabilitation therapy in the coming decades as a consequence of an aging population. Fracture healing is a complex physiological process that involves the coordinated participation of different bone marrow cells, immune cells and skeletal progenitor cells. Multiple factors regulate interactions between these cell types that influence the capacity of bone cell progenitors to develop into functional bone forming cells known as osteoblasts. An understanding of the fracture healing is critical for the future advancement of fracture treatment, and for identifying the mechanisms of skeletal growth and repair as well as the causes of aging and disease. This proposal seeks to identify critical regulatory molecules that act to mediate bone cell progenitor recruitment and development during bone fracture repair.