"I have been waiting 13 years for this breakthrough," said Sarah Ziegler, vice president of The MHE Research Foundation, which has provided seed funding for Dr. Yamaguchi's research. "My son had more than a 100 of these tumors and has gone through 15 surgeries. When your child has such a debilitating condition, and you know there's nothing you can do, it's petrifying. Now we have hope."

While this study takes MHE research a giant step forward, more questions remain. For one, it is still unknown how a few mutant bone cells can convince normal cells to divide and proliferate abnormally. Researchers hope that this MHE model will help solve that mystery, as well as provide leads for new treatments.

"This new mouse system also provides a platform for screening potential drugs that inhibit bone growths in MHE," Dr. Yamaguchi explained. "We are currently developing chemical inhibitors to block their formation."

Original paper:

Matsumoto K, Irie F, Mackem S, Yamaguchi Y. A mouse model of chondrocyte-specific somatic mutation reveals a role for Ext1 loss of heterozygosity in multiple hereditary exostoses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. Epub 2010 May 31.

Source: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute