Telomerase reverse transcriptase mediates bone formation for osteoporosis via activating BMP4/Smad1 pathway
Jinjin Ma, Xiaonan Yuan, Yao Xiao, Huan Wang, Youzhi Hong, Yang Zhang, Yuan Chen, Houfeng Zheng, Jiaying Li, Bin Li · 2026
Read Telomerase reverse transcriptase mediates bone formation for osteoporosis via activating BMP4/Smad1 pathway by Jinjin Ma, Xiaonan Yuan, Yao Xiao, Huan Wang, Youzhi Hong, Yang Zhang, Yuan Chen, Houfeng Zheng, Jiaying Li, Bin Li (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13157038.txt.
Description
Osteoporosis thins bone until it breaks easily, and most treatments slow loss rather than rebuild. Jinjin Ma and co-authors study a protein best known from the ends of chromosomes, called TERT. They ask whether it also drives bone building. The team measured the protein in patient samples and in mice that model the disease.
The protein was lower in weak bone, and low levels went with poor bone growth. Tests showed it switches on a growth pathway, BMP4 and Smad1, that bone-forming cells need. The team then loaded the protein's signal into tiny cell-made packets and added a bone-seeking tag. Given to the mice, the packets gathered in bone and restored much of the lost spongy bone. The authors propose this targeted, cell-free approach as a new way to rebuild bone.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Jinjin Ma, Xiaonan Yuan, Yao Xiao, Huan Wang, Youzhi Hong, Yang Zhang, Yuan Chen, Houfeng Zheng, Jiaying Li, Bin Li |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 52 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |