Effect of Calcium -Vitamin D and Alendronate on serum Dickkopf-1(Dkk-1) and Osteoprotegerin(OPG) in women with osteoporosis

Introduction: The early diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis is one of the priorities of medical sciences and so many complications can be prevent with early diagnosis of this disease. There are several markers characterized for bone formation and re absorption but none of these markers has direct relation with bone density. Methods and Materials: In a before after clinical trial, we enrolled 36 patients with osteoporosis and 36 healthy subjects in the form of two case and control groups and the efficacy of osteoporosis standard treatment protocol was assessed on Dkk-1 and OPG serum levels. The results were assessed with measuring the markers serum levels before and after the treatment. Results: The overall mean age of subjects was 60.2±6.8 years in the range of 40 to 68 years. The mean DKK-1 levels in patients, before the therapy was 3.01±1.27 which changed to 3.03±1.24 nano grams/ml after the treatment with no significant difference (P=0.92). However, the difference between the groups was meaningful (P<0.0001).The OPG levels, before the treatment was 4.44±1.12 which has changed to 4.42 ±1.10 nano grams/ml, the difference was not statistically different (P=0.74). Despite Dkk-1, the difference in serum OPG levels was not significant before the treatment (P=0.36). Conclusion: The Dkk-1 serum levels in osteoporotic patients were higher comparing to healthy subjects, but we can conclude that osteoporosis standard treatment has no significant effect on decreasing the Dkk-1 levels and increasing the OPG levels. Therefore, more multi central studies with more number of cases is necessary. (Hajialilo M, Ghorbani Haghjo A, Amanifar B, Rameshk Nia V, Khabbazi A, Kolahi S, Jafari Nakhjavini MR. Effect of Calcium -Vitamin D and Alendronate on serum Dickkopf-1(Dkk-1) and Osteoprotegerin(OPG) in women with osteoporosis. J Am Sci 2013;9(11s):8-12). (ISSN: 1545-1003). http://www.jofamericanscience.org. 2