Parathyroid hormone treatment for glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis

N.E. Lane, Q. Rehman

Division of Rheumatology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco General Hospital,  San Francisco, USA.

ABSTRACT
Parathyroid hormone (PTH) was first used in the treatment of osteoporosis in 1929 when Fuller Albright demonstrated an increase in skeletal calcium in rats by injecting parathyroid extracts (1). This was later confirmed by Hans Selye in 1932 (2). The amino acid sequencing of PTH was performed in the early 1970s (3). Subsequently, small clinical studies were initiated to determine if PTH had therapeutic potential to augment bone mass in osteoporotic patients (4). Since then, a lot has been learned about the role of the amino terminal fragments of PTH in the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis in animals and humans. This article reviews the available evidence for the use of PTH fragments in osteoporosis, particularly glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIOP).

Key words
Human parathyroid hormone (hPTH) (1-34), glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis. 

Please address correspondence and reprint request to: Nancy E. Lane, M.D., Division of Rheumatology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco General Hospital, Building 30, Room 3320, 1001 Potrero Avenue, Box 0811, San Francisco, CA 94143-0811, USA.

Clin Exp Rheumatol 2000; 18 (Suppl. 21): S60-S64.
© Copyright Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology 2000.