Dental Tribune U.S.Edition No.3, 2016

a12 INDUSTRY NEWS AD A UCLA research team has found a com- bination of proteins that could signifi- cantly improve clinical bone restoration. The findings may be a big step toward developing effective therapeutic treat- ments for bone skeletal defects, bone loss and osteoporosis. The study, led by Dr. Kang Ting, profes- sor and chair of the section of orthodon- tics at the UCLA School of Dentistry; Dr. Chia Soo, professor of plastic surgery and vice chair for research at the David Gef- fen School of Medicine at UCLA; and Dr. Aaron James, a fellow in surgical pathol- ogy, ran as the lead article in the February print edition of the American Journal of Pathology. Current treatments for bone skeletal defects utilize bone morphogenetic pro- tein-2, or BMP2, an FDA-approved bone- healing protein. But the high concen- trations needed to induce human bone formation may have serious side effects, including life-threatening cervical swell- ing and abnormal and inconsistent bone growth. The same research team has conducted other studies on bone growth, including one that utilized a protein called NELL-1, which successfully increased bone forma- tion and stimulated key factors for bone growth in multiple preclinical models. In the new study, the team paired the NELL-1 protein, which Ting discovered, with BMP2. They found that the com- bination of the two proteins increased bone formation while inhibiting the formation of fat cells — a negative side effect of BMP2, which encourages stem cells to form both bone and fat cells. By contrast, NELL-1 encourages stem cells to form bone cells instead of fat cells. Used together, the two proteins stimulate bone production more dramatically than ei- ther does alone. “Before this study, large bone defects in patients were difficult to treat with BMP2 or other existing products available to surgeons,” Ting said. “The combination of NELL-1 and BMP2 resulted in improved safety and efficacy of bone regeneration in animal models — and may, one day, offer patients significantly better bone healing.” The study showed that NELL-1 works by activating the cellular signaling pathway that regulates whether a stem cell differ- entiates into a bone cell or a fat cell. It also showed that BMP2 can induce non-bone cells to form bone, with the potential risk for ectopic bone growth — bone forma- tion in undesirable locations. The two proteins complement each oth- er in that BMP2 helps to turn non-bone cells into bone-forming cells, and NELL-1 then increases the bone-forming ability of bone cells. “In contrast to BMP2, the UCLA study: Protein combination helps bone regeneration ” PROTEIN, page A13

Dental Tribune U.S.Edition No.3, 2016

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