Clinical utility of biochemical marker of bone remodelling in patients with bone metastases of solid tumors.

Bone turnover is characterized both by the formation of new bone by the osteoblasts and the resorption of old tissue by the osteoclast. This process takes place only on the surface of bone and can be described in terms of spatio-temporal events that are the bone metabolic unit and the bone remodelling cycle. The former consists of a discrete group of cells (osteoblasts and osteoclasts) involved in a particular remodelling event while the latter represents the succession of resorption and formation. In a typical remodelling cycle, resorption takes 7-10 days, whereas formation requires 2-3 months. Remodelling is regulated either by local or systemic factors, including electrical and mechanical forces, hormones (e.g. parathyroid hormone, sexual steroids, calcitriol, cortisol, thyroid hormones, calcitonin), growth factors and cytokines. Recently different circulating biochemical markers have been proposed for the investigation of bone turnover. In addition to classical parameters such as serum alkaline phosphatase and urinary calcium and hydroxyproline, new markers have gained clinical attention because of their accuracy in assessing the dynamic changes in bone remodelling (bone alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin, propeptides PICP and PINP, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase, deoxypyridinoline, pyridinoline, telopeptide CTx and NTx). The aim of this review is to present the recent advances in this field and the clinical application of markers of bone turnover in patients with bone metastases from solid tumors. Also the cellular and molecular bases of bone remodelling are reported with details.