Publications

We investigated whether those who experience the greatest increases in bone turnover in response to parathyroid hormone (PTH) therapy are the same as those who experience elevations in calcium levels. Baseline and follow-up procollagen type I N propeptide (PINP), bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP), C-terminal telopeptide (CTX), and serum and urinary calcium levels were analyzed post hoc from the 119 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis randomized to PTH(1-84) in the Parathyroid Hormone and Alendronate trial. Short-term changes in the markers of bone turnover were highly correlated with one another (r=0.57-0.87, p<0.001). In contrast, change in serum calcium correlated only modestly with changes in markers of formation (r=0.22-0.30, p≤0.02) and did not correlate significantly with change in CTX (r=0.13, p=0.18). Participants who experienced hypercalcemia experienced greater 3-mo changes in BAP than those who did not (78% vs. 42% increase in BAP, p=0.04), with similar trends for PINP and CTX. In conclusion, the use of 1 marker of bone turnover, rather than multiple markers, may be sufficient to assess biochemical response to PTH(1-84). The relationship between bone turnover marker and calcium responses to PTH(1-84) is modest and does not suggest a profound, broadly heightened responsiveness of certain individuals to therapy.

OBJECTIVE

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) are an age-related vascular disease and an important cause of morbidity and mortality. In this study, we sought to determine whether the catalytic component of telomerase, telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), modulates angiotensin (Ang) II-induced AAA formation.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient (LDLr-/-) mice were lethally irradiated and reconstituted with bone marrow-derived cells from TERT-deficient (TERT-/-) mice or littermate wild-type mice. Mice were placed on a diet enriched in cholesterol, and AAA formation was quantified after 4 weeks of Ang II infusion. Repopulation of LDLr-/- mice with TERT-/- bone marrow-derived cells attenuated Ang II-induced AAA formation. TERT-deficient recipient mice revealed modest telomere attrition in circulating leukocytes at the study end point without any overt effect of the donor genotype on white blood cell counts. In mice repopulated with TERT-/- bone marrow, aortic matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) activity was reduced, and TERT-/- macrophages exhibited decreased expression and activity of MMP-2 in response to stimulation with Ang II. Finally, we demonstrated in transient transfection studies that TERT overexpression activates the MMP-2 promoter in macrophages.

CONCLUSIONS

TERT deficiency in bone marrow-derived macrophages attenuates Ang II-induced AAA formation in LDLr-/- mice and decreases MMP-2 expression. These results point to a previously unrecognized role of TERT in the pathogenesis of AAA.