Proteomics: an emerging tool for the discovery of bone mineral density molecular pathways

Osteoporosis is a polygenic disease associated with low bone mineral density and deterioration of bone miniscule architecture and increased chance of bone fractures. However, several signaling pathways regulate bone mineral density including parathyroid hormone (PTH), Core-binding factor α-1 (CBFA1), Wnt/β-catenin, the receptor activator of the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) ligand (RANKL), myostatin, estrogen, and osteogenic exercise signaling pathways. These signaling pathways occur at protein level that depends not only on messenger RNA transcriptional regulation but also on a number of translational and posttranslational controls. Moreover, proteomic alterations in bone tissue due to a disease may occur in several ways that are unpredictable from either genome or transcriptome analysis. Decades of genome and transcriptome analyses have identified few causative genes; nonetheless, the majority of osteoporosis susceptibility genes remain unknown. It appears that a deeper view of bone proteome alterations will influence bone health and disease. This article highlights the efficacy of proteomics as an emerging tool for the discovery of bone mineral density molecular pathways.