Osteoporosis fractures fall by 94% in small first-in-human stem cell trial

by Sanjukta Mondal, Medical Xpress

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Somewhere in the world, a woman over 50 will have fractured a bone by the time you finish reading this sentence due to osteoporosis, a silent bone disease that can weaken the structural integrity of the skeletal system and a person's quality of life. The disease weakens bones and makes them more likely to break because of reduced bone mineral density and bone mass, and it affects an estimated 75 million people across Europe, the USA, and Japan.

Menopause-associated estrogen loss makes the burden of this disease higher in women globally, as 1 in 3 women over age 50 is at risk of suffering an osteoporosis-related fracture.

A recent study published in Cell explored a novel stem cell therapy for advanced osteoporosis that cleverly uses a patient's own stem cells as a biological targeting tag, binding to blood vessels in the bone marrow and guiding the infused stem cells directly to damaged bone tissue.

In a first-in-human trial, 10 women over 50 with advanced osteoporosis received an infusion of the specially engineered repair cells via a single intravenous (IV) drip.

In the first two years after treatment, fractures caused by weakened bones fell by 94%, from eight fractures per year to 0.5 fractures per year, across the group. Post-treatment bone biopsies showed that the mean bone tissue area nearly doubled in just four months. Most patients also reported less pain after receiving the infusion, with a 34% reduction at month 24.

Mending the weak and fragile

One fracture every three seconds; that is the worldwide rate of osteoporosis-related fractures in women, with around 10 million fragility fractures occurring each year. While the risk is higher in women, 1 in 5 men over 50 do experience fragility fractures resulting from osteoporosis. The impact of these fractures extends beyond physical health to mental health and social life.

Despite this, there is no cure for the disease, and the prevention of new fragility fractures is the principal goal of treatment. Current drugs can slow down bone loss or promote bone growth, but they require lifelong use and can cause side effects like heartburn, swallowing troubles and nausea. This leads to nearly 30% to 35% of patients stopping their prescribed medications, creating an unwanted treatment gap.

A possible line of treatment is harnessing the power of stem cells. Bone marrow stem cells can naturally make bone-forming cells, but injecting regular stem cells into the bloodstream didn't yield promising outcomes in earlier studies because the cells lacked the biological navigation system needed to migrate to the bone tissue in need.

Sticky stem cells find the way

In this study, the researchers first extracted bone marrow, autologous bone marrow-derived MSCs or autoBM-MSCs, from each participant's hip bone and grew millions of their stem cells in a lab.

To make sure the stem cells stick to bone marrow blood vessels or enter bone tissue effectively, they introduced a surface sugar pattern by placing the stem cells in a liquid solution with a specialized enzyme and a sugar donor molecule, called GDP-fucose. This converted the cells into HCELL, a biological targeting tag that locks onto receptors lining bone marrow blood vessels.

After the engineered cells passed all the required safety tests, the patients received their own modified stem cells through an IV drip. Doctors followed the patients closely for nearly six years, with a mandatory two-year primary evaluation period which included monitoring their bones through scans, blood tests, and bone density measurements.

Over the full six years of follow-up, fractures plummeted from 0.54 to just 0.11 per patient-year. Detailed 3D bone scans at the two-year mark backed this up, showing real gains in bone density deep inside the spongy bone. Blood work also showed higher bone-building markers, which stayed elevated for more than six months after just one infusion.

The impact wasn't limited to just numbers in a report; patients felt it too. By 24 months, bone pain was down 34%, and physical disability scores improved by 30%.

• (A) Patient histories with study timeline (years/months shown at figure bottom). In enrollment order, each patient is presented as a separate row. Credit: Cell (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.08.017
• Bone tissue area (BTA) and bone mineral density QTS scores. Credit: Cell (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.08.017

Based on the results, the researchers are hopeful that modifying the repair stem cells could make them a viable treatment for osteoporosis. The findings also push back against a common assumption that stem cells from older or sicker patients are past their prime. It turns out, that with the right preparation, they can be just as effective.

Written for you by our author Sanjukta Mondal, edited by Sadie Harley, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly). You'll get an ad-free account as a thank-you.

Publication details

Jose M. Moraleda et al, Glycocalyx-edited mesenchymal stem/stromal cell therapy in advanced osteoporosis, Cell (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.08.017

Journal information: Cell

Clinical categories

EndocrinologyOrthopedicsCommon illnesses & PreventionHealthy agingWomen's health Who's behind this story?

Sanjukta Mondal

Master's in Chemistry. Freelance science journalist and communicator. Published in Chemistry World, BioSpace, and The Hindu. Full profile →

Sadie Harley

BSc Life Sciences & Ecology. Microbiology lab background with pharmaceutical news experience in oil, gas, and renewable industries. Full profile →

Robert Egan

Bachelor's in mathematical biology, Master's in creative writing. Well-traveled with unique perspectives on science and language. Full profile →

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