Merry Jo Oursler, Ph.D., examines the roles of osteoclasts in bone metabolism. Osteoclasts are the cells responsible for bone loss during osteoporosis, causing debilitating pain and fractures following metastasis to bone of many types of cancer including breast and myeloma. Currently available therapies for bone loss suppress osteoclast differentiation and often affect survival. One unintended effect of these therapies is that they also suppress bone formation.
