| Summary: | 碩士 === 中山醫學大學 === 醫學研究所 === 96 === Osteoporosis is of global concern especially due to its lack of
clinical signs. In Taiwan, prevalence of vertebral fractures
reached 18% in women and 12% in men older than 65 years,
respectively. Among all, patients with hip fractures suffer with
the most extent. Besides pain and disability from the disease,
they also require long term medical care and constant assistance
from others or auxiliary tools for activities; and these
significantly affect their quality of life. Early diagnosis is
considered the most effective method to prevent osteoporosis by
far. Osteopontin (OPN) is a multifunctional protein secreted by
bone cells. And osteopontin is considered to play an important
role in the metabolism of bones, and is found to be associated
with bone remodeling and strength of bones. Previous results
from in vivo studies suggested that osteopontin may be related
to onsets of bone resorption in osteoporosis. However, the
association between osteopontin levels and osteoporosis in
human remains unclear. Therefore, 122 postmenopausal women
and 58 healthy women in their reproduction period were invited
for study. Enzyme-link immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used
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to determine the serum osteopontin levels of each study subjects;
bone density of each individual were also carefully detected. In
our results, the mean serum osteopontin level was significantly
different between experimental group and control group
(14.8ng/ml vs. 7.8ng/ml, p<0.0001); and age is positively
correlated with serum osteopontin levels (r=0.5963, P<0.0001).
Moreover, the mean serum osteopontin level of individuals with
a T-score less than -2.5 were found to be higher than those with
a T-score larger than -1 SD(T-score <-2.5, OPN=15.2 ± 6.2
ng/ml; T-score>-1, OPN=13.2 ± 5.2 ng/ml). Body weight and
bone density at the hip were also negatively correlated with the
mean serum osteopontin level (Body weight, r=-0.2178,
P=0.0188; and bone density at hip, r=-0.4313, P<0.0001).
Subsequently, a multivariate regression model was used to
detect any changes in bone density at the hip in relation to
serum osteopontin level (β=-0.01/ng/ml). And individuals with
higher serum mean osteopontin levels (≧10ng/ml) were found
to have a 14.7-fold increase in risks of osteoporosis (95%
CI=6.04-35.59) when compared to subjects with mean serum
osteopontin levels less than 10ng/ml. We concluded that
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postmenopausal women with higher serum osteopontin levels
may experience elevated risks for osteoporosis than those
having lower serum osteopontin levels. And the level of
osteopontin in serum may be a promising marker for the
diagnosis of osteoporosis.
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