New research suggests that bone-modifying therapies currently used to treat osteoporosis could slow the progression of osteoarthritis (OA). In a study published in Science Advances, the combination of pretreatment with parathyroid hormone (PTH) to increase subchondral bone mass and stiffness before the initiation of OA and treatment with alendronate to inhibit bone remodelling during OA progression attenuated load-induced pathology across the whole joint in mice.

The researchers used a model in which daily application of loading to the knees of adult mice induces OA-like pathology in various tissues, including articular cartilage, peri-articular bone and subchondral bone. They examined tissue-level outcomes, as well as changes in gene expression in cartilage, bone and lymph nodes, after the initiation of loading.