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. 2021 Mar 11;16(3):e0248188. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248188

Current practice patterns of osteoporosis treatment in cancer patients and effects of therapeutic interventions in a tertiary center

Nasa Fujihara 1,*,#, Yuki Fujihara 2,#, Shunsuke Hamada 1,, Masahiro Yoshida 1,, Satoshi Tsukushi 1,#
Editor: Robert Daniel Blank3
PMCID: PMC7951835  PMID: 33705450

Abstract

Cancer and osteoporosis have high incidence rates in older populations. However, the treatment of osteoporosis among cancer patients has not been adequately described. Our purpose was to clarify the current practice patterns of osteoporosis treatment among cancer patients in an academic cancer center, and to analyze the efficacy of treatment interventions. Patient records from April 2009 to March 2018 were retrospectively reviewed, and the study included a total of 316 cancer patients with osteoporosis. After patients’ data extraction, the patients were divided into two groups, with (n = 144) or without treatment (n = 172), and compared the outcomes of these groups to evaluate the medication effect. The primary outcome was new radiographic fragility fractures during the study period. The related factors associated with fracture injuries and the rate of adverse events, such as osteonecrosis in the jaw and atypical femoral fractures, were analyzed. The rate of treatment intervention was 45.6% among the patient groups. Among patients in the study group, breast cancer patients (n = 107) were mostly treated (n = 79, 73.8%) with oral bisphosphonate. A significant difference in new fracture rate was observed between the two groups (treatment group, 30.6%; non-treatment group, 54.7%), and the risk of fracture was 42% lower in the treatment group (hazard ratio, 0.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.39–0.86; p<0.05). Previous chemotherapy, steroid use, and older age were significantly associated with increased rate of new fragility fractures. The adverse event rate was 3.5% (presented in five cases). Older cancer patients who receive chemotherapy or steroids are strongly recommended undergo bone quality assessment and appropriate osteoporosis treatment to improve their prognosis.

Introduction

Treatment of osteoporosis is essential for maintaining a good quality of life in older individuals [1, 2]. Despite preventative efforts, bone fragility increases with age. Therefore, even older people in good health are required to make a steady effort to avoid problems caused by bone fragility, which can often be challenging [3, 4]. Additionally, cancer is a well-known disease that occurs in older populations. However, the treatment of osteoporosis among cancer patients has not been adequately described, despite the huge risk of developing osteoporosis. The International Society of Geriatric Oncology (ISGO) group reported that classical factors including age, sex, family history of hip fractures, comorbidities, as well as corticosteroid, tobacco, and alcohol consumption are emerging as prevalent risk factors for osteoporosis in cancer patients [5]. Moreover, another study reported that the severity of bone disease and number of lesions help identify patients who are at risk of bone failures, including fragility fractures [6]. However, few studies have examined the incidence of adverse events associated with osteoporosis in cancer patients with such risk factors.

The ISGO group also reported that even the treatment recommendations are merely a summary of current knowledge and need further discussion because of the lack of study data. Osteoporosis is often misunderstood as a disease that is not fatal, as there are no symptoms in many cases. However, a decrease in the activity levels or immobilization caused by osteoporotic fragility fractures could be a major obstacle associated with cancer chemotherapies and is directly related to the worsening of cancer outcomes [710]. Therefore, it is important to prevent osteoporotic fractures in cancer patients. However, few studies have examined the effects of treatment interventions for osteoporosis in cancer patients. Although there is a growing interest in particular fields to preserve bone health, such as bone fragility associated with hormone treatment [3, 11], a comprehensive analysis of the treatment intervention rate for osteoporosis among cancer patients has not been conducted.

This study aimed to provide an overview of osteoporosis treatment efforts implemented by our center hospital institution for cancer treatment and to identify the effect of preventative medication on new fragility fractures. We expected to observe a higher intervention rate of osteoporosis treatment in patients who received hormone therapy, such as breast or prostate cancer patients. We also hypothesized that the therapeutic intervention would be effective in preventing new fragility fractures, as observed in previous studies [12, 13], and if a similar therapeutic effect is observed in cancer patients, then treating osteoporosis may also improve cancer treatment outcomes.

Materials and methods

Study design and participants

This retrospective study was approved by Aichi Cancer Center institutional ethics committee (approval number 364). After approval, data from our center’s medical records from April 2009 to March 2018 were obtained. As this was a retrospective cohort study, the need for informed consent was waived by our ethics committee, but all participants were given the option to decline participation by way of opting out through the website.

Following the Japanese osteoporosis prevention and treatment guidelines of 2015, the inclusion criteria included a history of vertebral or femoral fragility fractures or a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)-scanned young adult mean score <70%. This criteria extracted all cancer patients aged >40 years who could be newly diagnosed with osteoporosis in our hospital. The exclusion criteria were history of diagnosis or treatment of osteoporosis before participation, pathological fractures with bone metastasis, age <40 years [14, 15], and follow-up period <6 months.

After extracting data from 316 patients who met the criteria, we investigated the patient demographics, cancer type, cancer treatment, and whether osteoporosis was treated or not. The primary outcome was new radiographic fragility fractures during the study period. To detect fragility fractures, data were reviewed from all imaging studies, including conventional lateral spine radiographic photos, computer tomography scans, and spinal magnetic resonance imaging, that were conducted during the follow-up period in each patient. For these techniques, evaluation was performed by two independent orthopedic surgeons, and if the evaluation differed between surgeons, senior orthopedic surgeons judged the results. The average frequency of evaluation in each department was 2–3 months. Treatment intervention of osteoporosis was defined as treatment with anti-osteoporotic agents >6-month period, and steroid use was defined when a patient received prednisolone 7.5 mg/day for more than 3 months [16].

Data analysis

We grouped patients based on whether they received treatment or not. The data of patients treated with oral bisphosphonates (treatment group, n = 101) were compared with the data of those without treatment (non-treatment group, n = 172) to determine the medication effects for preventing new radiographic fragility fractures. The cumulative fracture rate was described using a Kaplan–Meier curve, and a log-rank test was performed to compare the intergroup differences. Additionally, a Cox proportional hazard regression model was applied to evaluate the risk factors associated with new fracture injuries. The factors examined were sex, age, method of diagnosis, cancer type, presence of bone metastases or duplicate cancers, history of chemo/radiotherapy, steroid use, and treatment intervention. Then, a multivariate analysis was conducted with all variables from the univariate analysis. All analyses were performed using STATA/SE version 14.2 (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA), and the level of significance was set at p<0.05.

Results

In total, 316 cancer patients (mean age, 70.0 [range 40–93] years; sex, 81 men [25.6%] and 235 women [74.4%]) were diagnosed with osteoporosis during the 10-year study period. The patient demographics are presented in Table 1. Of these, 48 (15.2%) and 29 patients (9.2%) had bone metastasis and double cancers, respectively. Moreover, 188 (59.5%) and 79 patients (25.0%) had previously undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy, respectively. In relation to chemotherapy, steroid injections were used in 46.8% (n = 148) of patients. The mean follow-up period was 34.2 (range, 6.1 to 114.5) months, and the total number of deaths during the study period was 96 (30.4%).

Table 1. Patient demographics.

Characteristics Total (n = 316) Treatment (n = 144) Non-treatment (n = 172) p-value
Age, years
Mean (range) 70.0 (40–93) 67.4 (50–86) 71.4 (51–84) 0.06
Sex, female 74.4% (235) 88.9% (128) 62.2% (107) <0.01
Diagnosis
*DXA 32.9% (104) 56.3% (81) 13.4% (23)
Vertebral fracture 60.1% (190) 38.2% (55) 78.5% (135)
Femoral fracture 7.0% (22) 5.6% (8) 8.1% (14)
<0.01
Cancer
Breast 34.0% (107) 54.9% (79) 16.3% (28)
Gastrointestinal 22.8% (72) 13.9% (20) 30.2% (52)
Lung 14.9% (47) 9.7% (14) 19.2% (33)
Blood 13.3% (42) 12.5% (18) 14.0% (24)
Head and neck 7.9% (25) 2.7% (4) 12.2% (21)
Others 7.3% (23) 6.3% (9) 8.1% (14)
<0.01
Double cancer 9.2% (29) 5.8% (10) 11.0% (19) 0.21
Bone metastasis 15.2% (48) 19.4% (28) 11.6% (20) 0.05
Previous radiotherapy 25% (79) 19.4% (28) 29.7% (51) 0.04
Previous chemotherapy 59.5% (188) 56.2% (81) 62.2% (107) 0.28
Steroid use 46.8% (148) 47.2% (68) 46.5% (80) 0.9
Adverse effect <0.01
Additional fracture 43.7% (138) 30.6% (44) 54.7% (94)
Jawbone necrosis 2.1% (3) 0% (0)
Atypical femoral fracture 1.4% (2) 0% (0)

*DXA: dual energy X-ray absorptiometry.

Patients were mostly diagnosed with breast cancer (n = 107, 34.0%), followed by gastrointestinal (n = 72, 22.8%), lung (n = 47, 14.9%), and blood cancer (n = 42, 13.3%). Contrary to our expectation, prostate cancer patients were almost undiagnosed (<2%). The total rate of medications was 45.6% (n = 144), with 70.1% (n = 101) of patients receiving oral bisphosphonate, followed by 9.7% (n = 14) of receiving zoledronic acid injections. An active vitamin D3 form, the one most commonly prescribed in general practice, was used in 9% of all cases. Denosumab was used in 6.9% of the treatment-group participants. Apart from the healthy population, only one participant (0.7%) received a teriparatide injection at another clinic (Fig 1). Osteoporosis was most frequently treated in breast cancer patients (n = 79, 73.8%), followed by blood (n = 18, 42.9%), lung (n = 14, 29.8%), and gastrointestinal cancer patients (n = 20, 27.8%). However, only 16.0% of head and neck cancer patients received medication for osteoporosis (Fig 2).

Fig 1. Key drugs used for osteoporosis treatment and frequency of anti-osteoporotic agents.

Fig 1

Of the oral bisphosphonates, 54.9% were alendronate and the rest were risedronate. The active form of vitamin D3 included eldecalcitol and alfacalcidol.

Fig 2. Treatment intervention rate.

Fig 2

The total rate of treatment intervention was 45.6%, and if breast cancer patients were excluded, it reduced to 31.0%. Approximately 73.8% of breast cancer patients were treated. In contrast, only 16.0% of head and neck cancer patients were treated.

The total rate of new fragility fractures during the study period was 43.7% (n = 138) (i.e., 30.6% [n = 44] and 54.7% [n = 94] in the treatment and non-treatment groups, respectively). Although there was clearly a statistically significant difference, only the statistics of the oral bisphosphonate group (n = 101) were examined because of the need for uniformity in the treatment agents. The Nelson-Aalen cumulative hazard estimate showed a great difference in the risk of new radiological fragility fractures between the treatment (n = 101) and non-treatment groups (n = 172), and the log-rank test demonstrated a significant difference among these groups (p<0.001) (Fig 3). However, the greater percentage of DXA-diagnosed patients could be a bias for the treatment group. We also performed the analysis after excluding the DXA-diagnosed patients, but it presented similar results (Fig 4). Although the difference between the two groups was small, the log-rank test also showed a significant difference between the two groups (p<0.05).

Fig 3. Cumulative risk of fracture (treatment vs non-treatment group).

Fig 3

The Nelson-Aalen cumulative hazard estimate showing the difference in the risk of additional fragility fractures between the two groups. The log-rank test showed a significant difference between these two groups (p<0.001).

Fig 4. Cumulative risk of fracture without DXA-diagnosed patients (treatment vs non-treatment group).

Fig 4

When patients diagnosed by DXA were excluded, the difference between the two groups narrowed. However, the log-rank test still showed a significant difference between these groups (p = 0.047). DXA, dual energy X-ray absorptiometry.

The multivariate analysis revealed that previous chemotherapy (hazard ratio [HR], 1.78; p = 0.019; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10–2.89), steroid use (HR, 1.68; p = 0.018; 95% CI, 1.09–2.58), and older age (HR, 1.03; p = 0.007; 95% CI, 1.01–1.05) were positively related to the increase in the rate of getting another fracture. Treatment intervention (HR, 0.58; p = 0.007; 95% CI, 0.39–0.86) and DXA diagnosis (HR, 0.29; p<0.001; 95% CI, 0.15–0.51) showed an inverse result (Table 2).

Table 2. Factors related to the risk of new radiological fragility fractures.

Factors Hazard ratio p-value 95% CI
Previous chemotherapy 1.78 0.019 1.10–2.89
Steroid use 1.68 0.018 1.09–2.58
Older age 1.03 0.007 1.01–1.05
Diagnosed with DXA 0.29 <0.001 0.15–0.51
Treatment intervention 0.58 0.007 0.39–0.86

CI: confidence interval; DXA: dual energy X-ray absorptiometry.

The most prevalent new radiological fragility fractures were vertebral (76.8%, n = 106) and femoral fractures (11.6%, n = 16). An adverse effect from using anti-osteoporotic drugs was observed in five cases (3.5%). This included two cases (1.4%) of atypical femoral fractures with long-term use of zoledronic acid, and three cases (2.1%) of jawbone necrosis in relation to the use of zoledronic acid or denosumab injections. Patients with fractures underwent open reduction and internal fixation at our department without any complications. Jawbone necrosis patients were treated at the dental department of our hospital, and all patients recovered during the follow-up period.

Discussion

Although the prognosis of cancer patients has improved, it is necessary to treat osteoporosis to maintain the performance status (PS) for chemotherapies [5, 17]. With this perspective, we found that medication had a significant influence on osteoporosis even in cancer patients. The use of anti-osteoporotic agents could reduce the risk of new radiological fragility fractures by 42%. However, the treatment rate itself was below 50%, despite the existence of the national guidelines. These results were fairly better than those of the general population (i.e., approximately 20% in Japan) [18, 19].

Disparities in treatment interventions between departments were large, with well-conducted interventions in breast and hematology departments, but not in lung, gastrointestinal, or head and neck surgery departments. This may stem from the differences in the cancer treatment itself, although we have not studied the exact reasons for this issue. For example, breast cancer treatment is directly related to bone metabolism with the use of hormone treatment, such as tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors. There are several guidelines that have already been published for bone-directed treatment, and Hadji et al. [11] have updated the treatment algorithm for better assessment of fracture risk. In addition, Colzani et al. [20] reported an increased risk of fragility fracture in patients using aromatase inhibitors compared with patients using tamoxifen (HR, 1.48; 95% CI, 0.98–2.22). Therefore, in such cases, a treatment intervention should be provided. In these cases, physicians and patients may easily accept osteoporosis treatment because it is already included in the cancer treatment.

Concerning risk factors, chemotherapy and associated steroid use had an obvious effect on the development of new radiological fragility fractures. Although chemotherapy itself is a risk factor for osteoporosis, a certain amount of steroid is often used as an antiemetic in chemotherapy, and this may worsen the patient’s comorbidities, which were not considered fatal. Many cancer patients are prescribed more steroids than the diagnosis criteria of steroid-induced osteoporosis [16], and the risk of developing this condition is dose dependent [21, 22]. In this study, patients who received chemotherapy and used steroids were at an increased risk of developing additional fractures, indicating that more careful interventions are needed for these patient groups.

After considering these results, we propose some suggestions for individual physicians who are engaged in cancer treatments. First, as the use of osteoporotic drugs has an evident effect on preventing new fragility fractures, physicians should take osteoporosis seriously to provide an efficient cancer treatment. Indeed, the treatment of osteoporosis is a time-consuming process, as oral bisphosphonates are sometimes not fully effective in patients who have difficulty with oral intake or are unable to receive oral medication. However, in recent years, several new anti-osteoporotic agents, such as annual zoledronic acid, semi-annual denosumab, or newly developed romosozumab injections have been released and are gradually being used. These new drugs are potentially therapeutically beneficial and cost effective for cancer patients who must undergo multiple medical treatments [2325]. The use of appropriate drugs for osteoporosis may also reduce the use of unnecessary analgesics, such as opioids or morphine, which can ultimately lead to a worsened PS. Second, as aforementioned, an increased rate of anti-osteoporotic agent usage can be attained as long as it can be linked to the cancer treatment itself. For example, when the diagnostic criteria for steroid osteoporosis are correctly applied to all cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, osteoporosis treatment could be included in their cancer treatment and physicians may prevent the decrease of the PS by avoiding fragility fractures caused by osteoporosis. Finally, there is an urgent need to correct disparities among medical departments. Common criteria are needed for initiating osteoporosis treatment in an institution. Moreover, establishing a cancer board that includes all departments may also help improve the rate of treatment interventions.

Regarding the adverse effects of using anti-osteoporotic drugs, jawbone necrosis and atypical femoral fracture were observed in 1.4%, and 2.1% of patients, respectively. This was similar to those previously reported by Edwards et al. [26] and Lipton et al. [27]. Our institution routinely requires dental consultations for screening oral conditions before starting anti-osteoporotic agent administration, and patients who were diagnosed with a high risk of jawbone necrosis underwent dental treatment before using these agents [28]. In addition, there were three cases of atypical femoral fractures in our study group, and all were treated surgically at our orthopedic department without any complications.

In this study, we had few patients who used teriparatide, which is rarely used for osteoporosis treatment in recent years. After Subbiah et al. [29] reported the risk of teriparatide-induced osteosarcoma, the use of teriparatide is avoided for cancer patients. However, recent research has provided new evidence concerning the use of teriparatide [25, 30, 31]. Interestingly, Gilsenan et al. reported that the incidence of osteosarcoma associated with teriparatide use during a 15-year period was not different than what was expected based on the background incidence rate of osteosarcoma after examining data from a US database [30]. Besides, other new agents, such as romosozumab, humanized IgG2 monoclonal antibody, or annual zoledronic acid, were allowed to be used for the treatment of cancer patients. These relatively new drugs will be used more aggressively for such patients in the future.

However, this study had several limitations. First, there were differences between the two groups. Although we conducted the analysis without factors that could affect the results, the potential difference may have affected the study results. Additionally, we had no detailed data on cancers and chemo/radiotherapies, and these unknown factors may also have affected the results. Second, we applied Japanese national guidelines for the prevention and diagnosis of osteoporosis, which are slightly different from the World Health Organization guidelines. This may have affected treatment interventions in particular for patients from different departments, such as the breast oncology department. Third, we defined treatment interventions as those provided for more than 6 months, as cancer patients often have poor prognoses. However, most related studies set this intervention period as over 1 year; therefore, some may doubt the effect of treatment interventions.

Despite these limitations, the current study provided a sound analysis of the effect of osteoporosis treatment among cancer patients in our tertiary center. We found that the medication effect was quite substantial, while the incidence of adverse events was low. Therefore, older cancer patients who receive chemotherapy or use steroids are strongly recommended to use anti-osteoporotic drugs to maintain their PS. However, there is still a need to study the effect of osteoporotic treatment in terms of specific cancer types or agents, as related research is lacking. From these viewpoints, further research is required to improve the quality-of-life associated with cancer treatment of patients to achieve better prognoses.

Supporting information

S1 Data

(XLSX)

S1 Checklist

(DOCX)

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Hidemi Ito and Kenichi Yoshimura for their statistical support.

Data Availability

Data are available from the ACC Institutional Data Access / Ethics Committee (contact ortho_tiken@aichi-cc.jp, irb@aichi-cc.jp) for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data.

Funding Statement

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

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Decision Letter 0

Robert Daniel Blank

2 Nov 2020

PONE-D-20-33343

Current practice patterns of osteoporosis treatment in cancer patients and effects of therapeutic interventions in a tertiary center

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Fujihara,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Robert Daniel Blank, MD, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments:

There are several important issues that you must address before I send this MS to other reviewers.

1. Please check your MS against STROBE standards for cohort studies and add the STROBE checklist to your MS.

2. Please show p-values for table 1. My inspection of the table suggests that the treated/untreated groups differ. This should be checked explicitly, as it is an important potential source of confounding in your subsequent analysis.

3. Date of entry into study should be explicitly defined, and survival curves plotted based on study entry, not diagnosis of osteoporosis. It is necessary to unpack those who were already being treated prior to cancer diagnosis.

4. What about osteoporosis based on other low trauma fractures beside vertebral or femoral?

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[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 11;16(3):e0248188. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248188.r002

Author response to Decision Letter 0


8 Dec 2020

November, 30, 2020

Dear Editor:

Thank you for checking the manuscript. We have summarized the corrections below based on your review. Thank you in advance for your kind help.

Best regards,

Nasa Fujihara

Additional Editor Comments:

1. Please check your MS against STROBE standards for cohort studies and add the STROBE checklist to your MS.

⇒ The checklist is attached at the end of the manuscript.

2. Please show p-values for table 1. My inspection of the table suggests that the treated/untreated groups differ. This should be checked explicitly, as it is an important potential source of confounding in your subsequent analysis.

⇒ We have included it because it affects the results of the analysis as you pointed out. Although there were fewer women in the untreated group, which may lead to a lower risk of fracture, the results actually showed a higher risk of fracture.

3. Date of entry into study should be explicitly defined, and survival curves plotted based on study entry, not diagnosis of osteoporosis. It is necessary to unpack those who were already being treated prior to cancer diagnosis.

⇒As you pointed out, the starting point was the time of participation in the study, and we have corrected this to include the notation in the graph.

Also, patients with a diagnosis of osteoporosis prior to the start of the study were excluded and this has been noted.

4. What about osteoporosis based on other low trauma fractures beside vertebral or femoral?

⇒ To clarify the definition, we only included the cases with vertebral or low-energy femoral fractures, or less than 70% of YAM value according to the Japanese diagnostic criteria of osteoporosis. So as you pointed out, the other low trauma fracture with high YAM value cases are not included. However, results includes all fragility fractures caused from low energy trauma.

Journal Requirements:

1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at

⇒Done

2. Please provide additional details regarding participant consent. In the ethics statement in the Methods and online submission information, please ensure that you have specified (1) whether consent was informed and (2) what type you obtained (for instance, written or verbal, and if verbal, how it was documented and witnessed). If your study included minors, state whether you obtained consent from parents or guardians. If the need for consent was waived by the ethics committee, please include this information.

⇒ I have changed the manuscript following above.

3. We note that you have indicated that data from this study are available upon request. PLOS only allows data to be available upon request if there are legal or ethical restrictions on sharing data publicly. For information on unacceptable data access restrictions, please see http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability#loc-unacceptable-data-access-restrictions.

In your revised cover letter, please address the following prompts:

b) If there are no restrictions, please upload the minimal anonymized data set necessary to replicate your study findings as either Supporting Information files or to a stable, public repository and provide us with the relevant URLs, DOIs, or accession numbers.

⇒Done

Attachment

Submitted filename: Responce to Reviewer.docx

Decision Letter 1

Robert Daniel Blank

23 Dec 2020

PONE-D-20-33343R1

Current practice patterns of osteoporosis treatment in cancer patients and effects of therapeutic interventions in a tertiary center

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Fujihara,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Reviewer 1 wishes a few additional details regarding drug treatment.  Reviewer 2 wishes a higher standard of English syntax and usage.  Editor agrees with both reviewers.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Feb 06 2021 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

  • A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.

  • A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.

  • An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Robert Daniel Blank, MD, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The result is somehow expected where those being treated should have a lower incidence of fragility fracture. It is supported by this piece of research. 9% of the patients were being treated with Vitamin D. Many current studies showed the important role of Vitamin D in patients with cancer especially breast cancer. Is Vitamin D considered a treatment for osteoporosis in patient with cancer in your centre? What kind of Vitamin D was being used? Was it single therapy or in combination with anti-osteoporosis medicines? Did you look at the vitamin D level of your patients, both baseline and after treatment?

Although it was mentioned in your document that there might be a role of teriparatide in treating cancer patients with osteoporosis, it is clearly stated in the teriparatide product information that it should not be used in cancer patients with skeletal metastatic lesion. What is your view on this?

Reviewer #2: The paper is scientifically sound and presents useful information. However, the written language used in the manuscript is not appropriate for a scientific publication (For example: first person used not be in scientific manuscript.

Editing of the paper by an individual scientist with English as their language would aid in acceptance of the paper.

**********

7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 11;16(3):e0248188. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248188.r004

Author response to Decision Letter 1


3 Feb 2021

February 3, 2021

Dear Dr. Blank,

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Dear Editor:

We would like to thank you for your response and for giving us the opportunity to improve and resubmit our manuscript (PONE-D-20-33343R1) entitled "Current practice patterns of osteoporosis treatment in cancer patients and effects of therapeutic interventions in a tertiary center." We are hereby resubmitting a revised manuscript conforming to all of the reviewers’ comments. In particular, we have addressed all the reviewers’ comments in a point-by-point manner and revisions are indicated in red font in the revised manuscript. We hope that the revised manuscript is now suitable for publication in your journal.

Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Nasa Fujihara,

Section of Orthopedic Surgery, Aichi Cancer Center

1-1 Kanokoden Tikusa-ku,

Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan 464-8681

Email: nfujihara@aichi-cc.jp

Phone: 052-762-6111

FAX: 052-762-6111

Reviewer #1: The result is somehow expected where those being treated should have a lower incidence of fragility fracture. It is supported by this piece of research. 9% of the patients were being treated with Vitamin D. Many current studies showed the important role of Vitamin D in patients with cancer especially breast cancer. Is Vitamin D considered a treatment for osteoporosis in patient with cancer in your centre? What kind of Vitamin D was being used? Was it single therapy or in combination with anti-osteoporosis medicines? Did you look at the vitamin D level of your patients, both baseline and after treatment?

Although it was mentioned in your document that there might be a role of teriparatide in treating cancer patients with osteoporosis, it is clearly stated in the teriparatide product information that it should not be used in cancer patients with skeletal metastatic lesion. What is your view on this?

Response

We would like to thank the reviewer for evaluating our manuscript and for these constructive comments.

First, regarding vitamin D, we did use not the natural form of vitamin D that is often discussed nowadays. “Vitamin D” described in this study was actually “eldecalcitol” or “alfacalcidol,” which is an active vitamin D3 prodrug. Besides, we do not have a specific hospital or medical department protocol for applying Vitamin D drugs. Probably, the use of Vitamin D has been reported in some cases of breast cancer, as the reviewer stated.

However, in Japan, “eldecalcitol” or “alfacalcidol” is often prescribed as an initial drug for osteoporosis treatment. Please note that we have edited the text and figures to make it clear that we used an active vitamin D3 prodrug. Especially, we have added the following sentences in the revised manuscript:

“An active vitamin D3 form, the one most commonly prescribed in general practice, was used in 9% of all cases.” (Lines 137–138)

“The active form of vitamin D3 included eldecalcitol and alfacalcidol.” (Line 147)

Moreover, teriparatide's contraindication for cancer patients with skeletal metastatic lesion is mainly based on past studies showing that teriparatide increased osteosarcoma in rats. However, in this study on rats, the used doses were dozens of times higher and provided for a longer period of time than those given to humans. Therefore, there are many arguments regarding whether it can directly apply to humans. In fact, as a recent study that analyzed the data of patients from a US database did not show any evidence concerning the role of teriparatide in increasing osteosarcoma or malignant bone tumors, we believe that the indications for teriparatide will be expanded in the future. Alternatively, another new osteoporosis drug, romosozumab, is indicated for cancer patients and may be a useful treatment option. Please note that we have included these issues in the discussion of the revised manuscript as follows: “However, recent research has provided new evidence concerning the use of teriparatide (25, 30, 31). Interestingly, Gilsenan et al. reported that the incidence of osteosarcoma associated with teriparatide use during a 15-year period was not different than what was expected based on the background incidence rate of osteosarcoma after examining data from a US database (30). Besides, other new agents, such as romosozumab, humanized IgG2 monoclonal antibody, or annual zoledronic acid, were allowed to be used for the treatment of cancer patients. These relatively new drugs will be used more aggressively for such patients in the future.”

(Lines 256–263)

Reviewer #2: The paper is scientifically sound and presents useful information. However, the written language used in the manuscript is not appropriate for a scientific publication (For example: first person used not be in scientific manuscript.

Response

We would like to thank the reviewer for evaluating our manuscript and for this comment. Please note that we have sent our manuscript to an English editing company (Editage) for English proofreading. We hope that the level of English has significantly improved in the revised manuscript.

Attachment

Submitted filename: Responce_to_Reviewers_0203.docx

Decision Letter 2

Robert Daniel Blank

22 Feb 2021

Current practice patterns of osteoporosis treatment in cancer patients and effects of therapeutic interventions in a tertiary center

PONE-D-20-33343R2

Dear Dr. Fujihara,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Robert Daniel Blank, MD, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

**********

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Change all DEXA to DXA. The question about the use of vitamin D has been well explained. Agreed with the input on the role of teriparatide.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Acceptance letter

Robert Daniel Blank

1 Mar 2021

PONE-D-20-33343R2

Current practice patterns of osteoporosis treatment in cancer patients and effects of therapeutic interventions in a tertiary center

Dear Dr. Fujihara:

I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org.

If we can help with anything else, please email us at plosone@plos.org.

Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access.

Kind regards,

PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff

on behalf of

Professor Robert Daniel Blank

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Associated Data

    This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

    Supplementary Materials

    S1 Data

    (XLSX)

    S1 Checklist

    (DOCX)

    Attachment

    Submitted filename: Responce to Reviewer.docx

    Attachment

    Submitted filename: Responce_to_Reviewers_0203.docx

    Data Availability Statement

    Data are available from the ACC Institutional Data Access / Ethics Committee (contact ortho_tiken@aichi-cc.jp, irb@aichi-cc.jp) for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data.


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