1990•Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesOpen access
Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein induces bone formation.
Elizabeth A. Wang, Vicki Rosen, Josephine D’Alessandro, M Bauduy, Paul Cordes, Tomoaki Harada, David I. Israel, Rodney M. Hewick, Kelvin M. Kerns, Peter LaPan
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Abstract
We have purified and characterized active recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) 2A. Implantation of the recombinant protein in rats showed that a single BMP can induce bone formation in vivo. A dose-response and time-course study using the rat ectopic bone formation assay revealed that implantation of 0.5-115 micrograms of partially purified recombinant human BMP-2A resulted in cartilage by day 7 and bone formation by day 14. The time at which bone formation occurred was dependent on the amount of BMP-2A implanted; at high doses bone formation could be observed at 5 days. The cartilage- and bone-inductive activity of the recombinant BMP-2A is histologically indistinguishable from that of bone extracts. Thus, recombinant BMP-2A has therapeutic potential to promote de novo bone formation in humans.