@article{3142222,
    title = "Serum Dickkopf-1 is increased and correlates with reduced bone mineral
density in patients with thalassemia-induced osteoporosis. Reduction
post-zoledronic acid administration",
    author = "Voskaridou, Ersi and Christoulas, Dimitrios and Xirakia, Charoula and and Varvagiannis, Konstantinos and Boutsikas, Georgios and Bilalis, Antonios and and Kastritis, Efstathios and Papatheodorou, Athanasios and Terpos, and Evangelos",
    journal = "Haematologica-the hematology journal",
    year = "2009",
    volume = "94",
    number = "5",
    pages = "725-728",
    publisher = "Ferrata Storti Foundation",
    doi = "10.3324/haematol.2008.000893",
    keywords = "thalassemia; osteoporosis; Dickkopf-1; osteoblast; zoledronic acid",
    abstract = "Dickkopf-1 is an inhibitor of Wnt signaling, which is crucial for
osteoblast differentiation. We evaluated serum levels of Dickkopf-1 in
66 patients with thalassemia-induced osteoporosis who received therapy
with zoledronic acid in a placebo-controlled, randomized trial. At
baseline, thalassemia patients had increased serum levels of Dickkopf-1
that correlated with reduced bone mineral density of the lumbar spine
and the distal radius. High Dickkopf-1 also correlated with increased
bone resorption and reduced bone formation markets. Zoledronic acid
produced a reduction in serum Dickkopf-1, which was associated with bone
mineral density increase after 12 months of therapy. On the contrary,
placebo group showed a borderline increase of Dickkopf-1, which was
higher in patients who showed deterioration in pain scores. These
results suggest that Dickkopf-1 is implicated in the pathogenesis of
osteoporosis in thalassemia and reveal Dickkopf-1 as a possible target
for the development of novel agents for the management of
thalassemia-induced osteoporosis (ClinicalTrials. got., Identifier:
NCT00346242)."
}