# A novel treatment for bone fracture repair

> **NIH VA I01** · VETERANS AFFAIRS MED CTR SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · —

## Abstract

Bone fractures pose a significant problem for veterans who suffered from traumatic injury in the line of military
duty or from prevalent osteoporotic diseases as a civilian. Intermittent (or daily) administration of parathyroid
hormone (PTH) is the only FDA-approved pharmaceutics that produces osteoanabolism to treat osteoporosis.
The osteoanabolic action of PTH is based on the ability of the hormone to alter systemic and local factors that
promote osteoblast (OB) activity before its stimulation of osteoclast (OCL) activity catches up, creating an
“anabolic window” of positive effects on bone mass and structure to restore mechanical integrity of the bone.
Intermittent PTH has also been shown to promote chondrogenesis in calluses at early stages of fracture repair
in preclinical models. Several clinical trials also demonstrated osteoanabolism of intermittent PTH at fracture
sites. Its dosing is, however, limited to a low level and a short duration due to potential adverse effects --
hypercalcemia and induction of osteosarcoma. Our proposal aims to delineate mechanisms underlying the
osteoanabolic actions and the hypercalcemic effects of PTH in order to devise new strategies to enhance PTH
therapy. Raising [Ca] activates the extracellular calcium-sensing receptors (CaSRs) in chondrocytes and OBs
to promote their survival and differentiation and in OCLs to inhibit their survival and bone-resorbing functions.
We postulate that the hypercalcemic effect of intermittent PTH is essential for the production of
osteoanabolism. A class of allosteric CaSR agonist (or calcimimetics) has been used clinically to treat
hyperparathyroidism and hypercalcemia by potentiating extracellular Ca-induced inhibition of PTH secretion in
parathyroid cells (PTCs). In this new grant application, we postulate that this compound, when co-injected with
intermittent PTH, will not only subside the hypercalcemic side effects of PTH, but also synergize the effects of
PTH and enhance skeletal anabolism by activating the CaSRs in chondrocytes, OBs, and OCLs directly. We
hypothesize that a concurrent calcimimetic treatment promotes chondro-to-osteo transition and
enhances osteoanabolism of intermittent PTH1-34 by activating the CaSRs in chondrocytes, OBs,
and/or OCLs to increase fracture repair capacity and concurrently rehabilitate other weakened
skeletons. Aim 1 will determine whether simultaneously activating CaSRs in PTCs, chondrocytes, OBs, and
OCLs by systemic co-administration of R568 with PTH1-34 abrogates hypercalcemia and produces more
robust osteoanabolism than administration of PTH1-34 or R568 alone to (a) speed up structural and functional
recovery of the bone subjected to a unilateral tibial mid-shaft fracture procedure and (b) to increase structural
and mechanical strength of the contralateral bone in adult and aging mice. Aim 2: determine (a) whether the
expression of chondrocytic CaSR is required for fracture healing and the anabolic effects of PTH1-34/R568 on
promoti...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9815427
- **Project number:** 5I01BX003453-03
- **Recipient organization:** VETERANS AFFAIRS MED CTR SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Wenhan Chang
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-10-01 → 2021-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9815427

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9815427, A novel treatment for bone fracture repair (5I01BX003453-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9815427. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*