image: Macroscopic changes of PDB like pathology to the right clavicle of SK37 Gr35. view more
Credit: Paul Quigley (photographer)
Protein sequence-based methods enabled the diagnosis of an ancient and atypical form of Paget's disease of bone, according to a study. Paget's disease is a common metabolic bone disorder. Signs of Paget's disease have been reported in archaeological remains dating back to the Roman Era, but the natural history of the disease remains unclear. Robert Layfield and colleagues used protein sequence-based methods to diagnose an ancient and atypical form of Paget's disease found in six medieval skeletons excavated in northwestern England. Pathological changes resembling contemporary Paget's disease were extensive, affecting up to 75% of individual skeletons. Moreover, disease prevalence in the remaining collection of 130 medieval skeletons excavated at the same site was high, and the age-at-death estimations for the skeletons showing signs of the disease were low. Despite these atypical features, paleoproteomic analysis revealed that samples from the affected skeletons contained sequences of an abnormal form of the protein p62, which plays a central role in Paget's disease. In addition, RNA sequencing revealed that a malignant bone tumor from a skeleton with extensive disease showed high expression of the microRNA miR-16, which has been reported in contemporary cases of Paget's disease. According to the authors, the findings suggest that ancient remains affected by other skeletal disorders may hold a chemical record amenable to similar molecular interrogation.
Article #18-20556: "Molecular insights into an ancient form of Paget's disease of bone," by Barry Shaw et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Robert Layfield, University of Nottingham Medical School, Nottingham, UNITED KINGDOM; tel: +44 7758 964790; e-mail: robert.layfield@nottingham.ac.uk
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Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences