Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Aug 24, 2026 1 hour, 1 minute ago
A scientific review involving institutions in Thailand has highlighted a naturally produced enzyme that could become an important target for future treatments against osteoporosis and other disorders involving bone loss.
HO-1 could become a promising therapeutic target for balancing bone formation and bone loss in osteoporosis and
other skeletal diseases.
The review focuses on heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an enzyme activated when cells face oxidative stress or inflammation. HO-1 appears to influence both sides of the body's continuous bone-renewal process: building new bone and removing old or damaged bone.
How the Body Constantly Rebuilds Bone
Bone is living tissue that is continuously remodeled. Cells called osteoblasts produce new bone, while osteoclasts break down existing bone. Healthy bones depend on these activities remaining carefully balanced.
The review found that oxidative stress and long-lasting inflammation can disturb this balance. Excessive reactive oxygen species can damage bone-forming cells while activating biological signals that encourage osteoclasts to remove more bone.
HO-1 may provide an important defense against this process because it has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cell-protective effects.
HO-1 Could Support Bone Formation
Evidence examined in the review indicates that increasing HO-1 activity can encourage stem-like precursor cells to develop into osteoblasts. HO-1 was associated with increased activity of important bone-building regulators, including Runx2, Dlx5, BMP-2, and osteocalcin.
HO-1 may also protect osteoblasts from oxidative damage, maintain healthier mitochondrial function, regulate potentially damaging free iron, and reduce cellular pathways that trigger osteoblast death.
This Medical News report also notes that HO-1 appears to work in the opposite direction against osteoclasts. It can interfere with the RANKL/RANK/NF-κB/NFATc1 signaling system, an important molecular pathway responsible for producing and activating bone-resorbing osteoclasts.
Experimental Treatments Show Encouraging Results
Several natural compounds and experimental agents that influence HO-1-related pathways have produced promising effects in laboratory cells and animals. Reported effects included greater osteogenic differentiation, reduced oxidative stress, fewer osteoclasts, decreased bone resorption, improved bone density, and preservation of bone structure.
However, HO-1 is not universally protective. In experimental diabetic osteoporosis, excessive or abnormal HO-1 activity was linked with iron imbalance and ferroptosis, a form of iron-dependent cell death. This means simply increasing HO-1 throughout the body could potentially cause unwanted effects.
Institutions Involved
The
Thailand Medical study involved Chiang Mai University's Office of Research Administration, Research Center for Innovation in Analytical Science and Technology for Biodiversity-Based Economic and
Society, and Faculty of Pharmacy in Thailand, together with support from the College of Pharmacy at Seoul National University.
Conclusions
The findings suggest that precisely controlling HO-1 could eventually provide a new approach to protecting bone, particularly by strengthening bone-forming mechanisms while limiting excessive bone destruction. However, most evidence currently comes from laboratory and animal research, making human clinical studies, bone-targeted delivery systems, and careful determination of safe treatment levels essential before HO-1-based therapies can become practical treatments.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Biomolecules.
https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/16/9/1224
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https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/thailand-medical
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