Grant: Team Grant: Bone Health - LOI

As a living tissue, bone is submitted to a continuous remodelling process with the objectives of adapting to growth and mechanical requirements. Bone remodelling is also important for the control of the levels of calcium in the blood. Osteoclasts are the cells specialised in bone resorption and participate actively in bone biology both in health and disease; they are formed from precursor cells circulating in the blood. Their capacity to resorb bone depends, among others, on the number of osteclasts formed from these precursors. Bone remodelling and destruction are important elements for joint destruction in Rheumatoid arthritis and Osteoarthritis and depend on the number and activity of osteoclasts. The objectives of this research program are to determine if the capacity to generate osteoclasts from blood cells is related to disease activity or severity in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis. If this hypothesis is correct them it may be possible to select patients prone to severe disease early in its course, allowing more adequate therapeutic interventions and improving long term prognostic. This research may also lead to the identification of new pharmacologic targets useful for the development of innovative therapeutic approaches to Rheumatoid arthritis and Osteoarthritis.