A degradation fragment of type X collagen is a real-time marker for bone growth velocity.

ABSTRACT: Despite its importance as a key parameter of child health and development, growth velocity is difficult to determine in real time because skeletal growth is slow and clinical tools to accurately detect very small increments of growth do not exist. We report discovery of a marker for skeletal growth in infants and children. The intact trimeric noncollagenous 1 (NC1) domain of type X collagen, the marker we designated as CXM for Collagen X Marker, is a degradation by-product of endochondral ossification that is released into the circulation in proportion to overall growth plate activity. This marker corresponds to the rate of linear bone growth at time of measurement. Serum concentrations of CXM plotted against age show a pattern similar to well-established height growth velocity curves and

SUBMITTER: Coghlan RF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6516194 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature