A new study published in Spine examines the association between BMP-2 and carcinogenicity for spinal fusion patients.
The researchers reviewed 4,131 articles using the PubMed-National Library of Medicine/National Institute of Health database. The non-clinical studies directly addressing BMP-2 and cancer were included. The researchers found:
1. There were 515 articles making reference to both BMP-2 and cancer and 99 directly examined the role of BMP-2 in cancer. There were 75 in vitro studies and 24 animal studies.
2. Among the studies included in the analysis, 43 concluded BMP-2 enhanced cancer function; 18 found BMP-2 suppressed malignancy.
3. None of the studies demonstrated that BMP-2 caused cancer de novo. Most of the studies addressed the role of BMP-2 in prostate, breast and lung cancers.
4. There were 15 studies focused on dose dependence, with nine reporting enhancement and six reporting suppression. One study demonstrated no dose dependence.
5. There were nine studies demonstrating BMP-2 time dependence, with six reporting enhancement and three reporting suppression.