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Updated: Apr 18, 2026
A Novel in vivo Gene Transfer Technique and in vitro Cell Based Assays for the Study of Bone Loss in Musculoskeletal Disorders
Published on: June 8, 2014
The genetics of osteoporosis
Graeme R Clark1, Emma L Duncan2
1Department of Medical Genetics, University of Cambridge and NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK.
Introduction:
Osteoporosis is the commonest metabolic bone disease worldwide. The clinical hallmark of osteoporosis is low trauma fracture, with the most devastating being hip fracture, resulting in significant effects on both morbidity and mortality.
Sources Of Data:
Data for this review have been gathered from the published literature and from a range of web resources.
Areas Of Agreement:
Genome-wide association studies in the field of osteoporosis have led to the identification of a number of loci associated with both bone mineral density and fracture risk and further increased our understanding of disease.
Areas Of Controversy:
The early strategies for mapping osteoporosis disease genes reported only isolated associations, with replication in independent cohorts proving difficult. Neither candidate gene or linkage studies showed association at genome-wide level of significance.
Growing Points:
The advent of massive parallel sequencing technologies has proved extremely successful in mapping monogenic diseases and thus leading to the utilization of this new technology in complex disease genetics.
Areas Timely For Developing Research:
The identification of novel genes and pathways will potentially lead to the identification of novel therapeutic options for patients with osteoporosis.
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