Researchers at the University of Southern California, School of Dentistry have uncovered the health benefits of aspirin in the fight against osteoporosis. Forty-four million Americans, 68 percent of whom are women, suffer from the debilitating effects of osteoporosis according to the National Institute of Health. One out of every two women and one in four men over 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime.
This latest study identifies aspirin's medicinal role on two fronts. In mice, the drug appears to prevent both improper bone resorption and the death of bone-forming stem cells.Â
An aspirin regimen appears to help mice recover from osteoporosis in two useful ways, striking a balance between bone formation and resorption, according to Associate Professor Songtao Shi and Research Associate Takayoshi Yamaza of the USC School of Dentistry's Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology (CCMB).
The silent disease affects both men and women. In women, bone loss is greatest during the first few years after menopause. Osteoporosis occurs when bone resorption (loss of bone) occurs too quickly or when formation (replacement) occurs to slowly.
However, there seems to be another side to the T-lymphocytes', or T-cells', role in osteoporosis, Yamaza says. While the immune cells typically attack disease cells and other foreign entities, the T-cells can mistakenly attack healthy stem cells.
"After infusing the mice with T-cells, the T-cells impaired the function of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells as well as caused osteoclast numbers to increase," he says.
The bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, or BMMSC, differentiate to become many different cells including osteoblasts, the cells responsible for bone formation. If this processed is impaired by T-cells, bone formation cannot keep up with bone resorption caused by osteoclasts, and bone mineral density decreases -- the hallmark of osteoporosis that leads to skeletal structural deterioration and fractures.
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