Open AccessThe Pathogenesis of Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament
Author(s) -
Liang Yan,
Rui Gao,
Yang Liu,
Baorong He,
Shemin Lv,
Dingjun Hao
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
aging and disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.808
H-Index - 54
ISSN - 2152-5250
DOI - 10.14336/ad.2017.0201
Subject(s) - medicine , ossification , pathogenesis , bone morphogenetic protein , myelopathy , ligament , mapk/erk pathway , pathological , disease , spinal cord , phenotype , ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament , mesenchymal stem cell , posterior longitudinal ligament , bioinformatics , pathology , neuroscience , kinase , anatomy , gene , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , psychiatry
Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) is a multi-factorial disease involving an ectopic bone formation of spinal ligaments. It affects 0.8-3.0% aging Asian and 0.1-1.7% aging European Caucasian. The ossified ligament compresses nerve roots in the spinal cord and causes serious neurological problems such as myelopathy and radiculopathy. Research in understanding pathogenesis of OPLL over the past several decades have revealed many genetic and non-genetic factors contributing to the development and progress of OPLL. The characterizations of aberrant signaling of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), and the pathological phenotypes of OPLL-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have provided new insights on the molecular mechanisms underlying OPLL. This paper reviews the recent progress in understanding the pathophysiology of OPLL and proposes future research directions on OPLL.