News tagged with bisphosphonates

USC dentist links Fosomax-type drugs to jaw necrosis

Researchers at the University Of Southern California, School Of Dentistry release results of clinical data that links oral bisphosphonates to increased jaw necrosis. The study is among the first to acknowledge that even short-term ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jan 01, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

New drug agent knocks out multiple enzymes in cancer pathway

A team of 24 researchers from the U.S., Europe, Taiwan and Japan and led by University of Illinois scientists has engineered a new anti-cancer agent that is about 200 times more active in killing tumor cells ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Mar 25, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Space-related radiation research could help reduce fractures in cancer survivors

A research project looking for ways to reduce bone loss in astronauts may yield methods of improving the bone health of cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Sep 15, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Common bone drugs may reduce colon cancer risk

An international team of researchers has found that the use of bisphosphonates - drugs already taken by millions of healthy women to prevent bone-loss - for more than one year was associated with a 50 percent reduction in ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Feb 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Quantity vs. quality: Long-term use of bone-building osteoporosis drugs

Bisphosphonate treatments, proven to enhance bone density and reduce fracture incidence in post-menopausal women, may adversely affect bone quality and increase risk of atypical fractures of the femur when used for four or ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Mar 10, 2010 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Long-term use of osteoporosis drugs associated with unusual fractures

(PhysOrg.com) -- Most hip fractures due to osteoporosis follow a pattern: the patient falls, and the bones around the hip joint shatter into pieces. But 2 to 3 years ago, orthopedic surgeons began seeing an increase in unusual ...

Medicine & Health / Medications

created Sep 21, 2010 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Taking a break from osteoporosis drugs can protect bones

Taking time off from certain osteoporosis drugs may be beneficial to bone health, according to a study conducted at Loyola University Health System. Researchers found that bone density remained stable for three years in patients ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Nov 18, 2010 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Some bisphosphonates users unfamiliar with drug's possible side effects on oral health

People undergoing bisphosphonate therapy to prevent or treat osteoporosis (a thinning of the bones) may be unfamiliar with the drug and possible adverse side effects on oral health, according to a study in the May issue ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created May 26, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Long term use of oral bisphosphonates may double risk of esophageal cancer

People who take oral bisphosphonates for bone disease over five years may be doubling their risk of developing oesophageal cancer (cancer of the gullet), according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal today.

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Sep 02, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

FDA warns of fractures with osteoporosis drugs

(AP) -- Government health officials warned doctors and patients Wednesday about an increased risk of thigh fractures with a widely used group of bone-strengthening drugs.

Medicine & Health / Medications

created Oct 13, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Osteoporosis drug may save lives by strengthening immune system

An osteoporosis drug proven to save lives after hip fractures may do so by strengthening the body's immune system, according to geriatrics researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

Medicine & Health / Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

created Jul 15, 2009 | popularity 2 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Yeast unravels effects of chemotherapy drugs

Until now, the mode of action of nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate (N-BP) cancer drugs, used to relieve bone pain and to prevent skeletal complications in bone metastasis, has been almost entirely unknown. Researchers writing ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Sep 09, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Bisphosphonate

In pharmacology, bisphosphonates (also called diphosphonates) are a class of drugs that prevent the loss of bone mass, used to treat osteoporosis and similar diseases.

Bone has constant turnover, and is kept in balance (homeostasis) by osteoblasts creating bone and osteoclasts digesting bone. Bisphosphonates inhibit the digestion of bone by osteoclasts.

Osteoclasts also have constant turnover and normally destroy themselves by a process called cell suicide (apoptosis). Bisphosphonates encourage osteoclasts to undergo apoptosis.

The uses of bisphosphonates include the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, osteitis deformans ("Paget's disease of bone"), bone metastasis (with or without hypercalcaemia), multiple myeloma, primary hyperparathyroidism, osteogenesis imperfecta and other conditions that feature bone fragility.

For more information about Bisphosphonate, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.