Anti-RANKL therapy for inflammatory bone disorders: Mechanisms and potential clinical applications.

Department of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York 14642, USA. Allen.Anandarajah@urmc.rochester.edu

Focal bone loss around inflamed joints in patients with autoimmune disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis, remains a serious clinical problem. The recent elucidation of the RANK/RANK-ligand/OPG pathway and its role as the final effector of osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption has brought a tremendous understanding of the pathophysiology of inflammatory bone loss, and has heightened expectation of a novel intervention. Here, we review the etiology of inflammatory bone loss, the RANK/RANK-ligand/OPG pathway, and the clinical development of anti-RANK-ligand therapy. Copyright 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

PMID: 16240334 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]