Osteoporosis, a condition that weakens bones and increases the risk of fractures, affects millions of people and remains a major challenge for doctors seeking safe treatments that can be used over long periods. In Germany alone, about six million people are affected, most of them women.
Because existing therapies can have limitations and side effects, researchers are looking for new biological targets that could lead to more effective ways of preserving or rebuilding bone. Scientists at Leipzig University have now identified one such target in GPR133, a receptor that appears to play an important role in keeping bones strong.
A Little-Known Receptor With a Major Role in Bone Health
GPR133 belongs to a group known as adhesion G protein-coupled receptors. These receptors sit on the surface of cells and help them respond to signals from their surroundings. Although this family of receptors is still not fully understood, the new findings suggest GPR133 is closely involved in the processes that build and maintain healthy bone.
"If this receptor is impaired by genetic changes, mice show signs of loss of bone density at an early age - similar to osteoporosis in humans. Using the substance AP503, which was only recently identified via a computer-assisted screen as a stimulator of GPR133, we were able to significantly increase bone strength in both healthy and osteoporotic mice," explains Professor Ines Liebscher, lead investigator of the study from the Rudolf Schönheimer Institute of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine.
