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Breaking into bone biology: target practice

Nature Medicine volume 15, pages 144–145 (2009)Cite this article

Osteoporosis researchers do not suffer from a lack of potential drug targets—so one challenge is to decide which ones to focus on. Yongwon Choi, Matthew C. Walsh and Joseph R. Arron now examine several molecules involved in bone biology and assess their prospects. In a second commentary, Cliff Rosen analyzes findings that serotonin, derived from the gut, regulates bone formation. The findings not only could lead to new drug targets, they also could help explain clinical data that serotonin reuptake inhibitors—widely prescribed as antidepressants—weaken bones.

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Figure 1: Targeting the osteoclast.

Katie Vicari

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yongwon Choi and Matthew C. Walsh are in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 421 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA,

    Yongwon Choi & Matthew C Walsh

  2. Joseph R. Arron is in the Immunology, Tissue Growth, and Repair Biomarker Group, Genentech, Incorporated, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, California 94080, USA. ychoi3@mail.med.upenn.edu,

    Joseph R Arron

Authors
  1. Yongwon Choi
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  2. Matthew C Walsh
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  3. Joseph R Arron
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Competing interests

J.R.A. is a full-time employee of Genentech, Inc.

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Choi, Y., Walsh, M. & Arron, J. Breaking into bone biology: target practice. Nat Med 15, 144–145 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0209-144

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