BoneKEy Reports | BoneKEy Watch
Increase in sclerostin levels is associated with fracture healing in humans
DOI:10.1038/bonekey.2012.137
Sclerostin (SOST), which inhibits Wnt signaling and therefore bone formation, had never been measured previously in patients with bone fractures. This study set out to measure SOST levels in people with normal fracture healing and impaired fracture healing, and compare them with the levels normally found in healthy, uninjured controls.
The researchers collected serum from 114 consecutive cases of long bone fracture and measured SOST levels, making a comparison with serum from 39 healthy volunteers. SOST levels increased continuously after fracture, reaching a peak at 8 weeks after injury, and then decreased until week 48. SOST levels within the fracture hematoma were significantly higher than corresponding levels in serum in patients with normal healing.
During the 12 month followup, a subgroup of 6 patients with impaired fracture healing emerged. These exhibited a trend towards reduced SOST levels compared with those with good healing, but the differences did not reach significance. Interestingly, SOST levels in these patients increased somewhat after reoperation to treat non-union.
Editor's comment: This study is the first to look at systemic SOST levels and fracture repair and shows that SOST is elevated during normal repair. However, larger studies are required to address the mechanism involved and to determine whether low levels of SOST contribute to non-union in patients.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.