Serum pyridinoline as a specific marker of collagen breakdown and bone metabolism in hemodialysis patients

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Abstract
Type I collagen represents more than 90% of bone matrix. Quantitative analysis of collagen cross‐link molecules such as pyridinoline (PYD) provides valuable information on bone resorption rate. We have studied 37 hemodialysis patients who underwent a systematic transiliac bone biopsy for histomorphometry study. Eighteen of them had tetracycline double labeling, allowing to determine dynamic, in addition to static bone parameters. Measurement of serum‐free PYD was performed using a new competitive enzyme immunoassay. Serum PYD values were compared with those of three other serum markers of bone metabolism, namely intact PTH (iPTH), bone‐specific alkaline phosphatase (bAP), and osteocalcin, for the correlations with bone histomorphometric parameters. Serum PYD levels (mean ± SD) were significantly higher in dialysis patients than in normal individuals, 90.6 ± 99.6 nM versus 1.9 ± 0.4 nM, respectively. Patients with high turnover bone disease had significantly higher serum PYD levels than patients with normal or low bone turnover, 108.8 ± 108.0 nM versus 34.1 ± 12.8 nM, respectively. Serum PYD levels were positively correlated with bone resorption parameters including osteoclast surface (r = 0.59, p < 0.0001) and osteoclast number/mm2 (r = 0.61, p < 0.0001), and also with bone formation parameters, osteoblast surface (r = 0.43, p < 0.008), double‐labeled surface (r = 0.81, p < 0.001), and BFR (r = 0.91, p < 0.0001). The BFR was better correlated with serum PYD levels than with either serum iPTH or osteocalcin concentrations. However, correlation with serum bAP was comparable. Serum cross‐linked type I carboxy‐terminal telopeptide (ICTP) and type I carboxy‐terminal extension peptide (PICP) levels were also significantly increased in both groups of dialysis patients but they did not correlate with any of the bone turnover parameters. In conclusion, PYD, which is a specific serum marker of collagen breakdown, provides valuable information on bone turnover in hemodialysis patients.