Diseases of Bone and the Stromal Cell Lineage

• Published in: Journal of bone and mineral research Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 336 - 341
• Main Authors: Bianco, Paolo, Robey, Pamela Gehron
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC John Wiley and Sons and The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) 01.03.1999; American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Bone Diseases - pathology; Bone Marrow Cells - pathology; Bone Marrow Transplantation; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Fibrous Dysplasia of Bone - pathology; Humans; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous. Osteoarticular involvement in other diseases; Osteoblasts - pathology; Stem Cells - pathology; Stromal Cells - pathology; Bone marrow; Transplantation; Review; Stromal cell; Diseases of the osteoarticular system
• ISSN: 0884-0431; 1523-4681
• DOI: 10.1359/jbmr.1999.14.3.336

For decades, the quest for a more complete insight into mechanisms of bone disease has promoted the development of in vitro systems that model the two main cell types responsible for bone formation and remodeling, osteoblasts and osteoclasts. While generating an unprecedented explosion of biological information, osteoblastic models have been both diverse and controversial. Since the 1980s, a reappraisal of earlier studies on the biology of bone marrow stromal cells as related to the origin and differentiation of osteoblasts have led to ever-increasing current attention to their use and value in bone biology and disease. Significant advances in the pathophysiology of osteoporosis, for example, were enabled by this shift in focus from purportedly "osteoblastic" models to marrow stromal cells proper. In this remodeled view, pathological changes in bone attain at the same time a cell lineage and an organ dimension, instead of the tissue dimension characteristic of histomorphometric readings of bone pathology, which traditionally have arrested at the untrespassed Hercules pillars provided by the bone-lining cells. Consequently, marrow stromal cells are more than simply an alternative strategy. When adopted as tools, they convey an inherently different angle for the investigation of the biology of bone disease.