About the Authors

Marcella Funicello

Affiliation Dulbecco Telethon Institute at Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Michela Novelli

Affiliation Department of Experimental Pathology, Medical Biotechnologies, Infectivology and Epidemiology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Maurizio Ragni

Affiliation Dulbecco Telethon Institute at Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Teresa Vottari

Affiliation Dulbecco Telethon Institute at Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Cesare Cocuzza

Affiliation Dulbecco Telethon Institute at Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Joaquin Soriano-Lopez

Affiliation Dulbecco Telethon Institute at Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Chiara Chiellini

Affiliation Dulbecco Telethon Institute at Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Federico Boschi

Affiliation Department of Morphological-Biomedical Sciences, Human Anatomy and Histology Section, Medical Faculty, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

Pasquina Marzola

Affiliation Department of Morphological-Biomedical Sciences, Human Anatomy and Histology Section, Medical Faculty, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

Pellegrino Masiello

Affiliation Department of Experimental Pathology, Medical Biotechnologies, Infectivology and Epidemiology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Paul Saftig

Affiliation Biochemical Institute, Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany

Ferruccio Santini

Affiliation Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Rene St-Jacques

Affiliation Department of Pharmacology, Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research, Kirkland, Quebec, Canada

Sylvie Desmarais

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research, Kirkland, Quebec, Canada

Nicolas Morin

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research, Kirkland, Quebec, Canada

Joseph Mancini

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research, Kirkland, Quebec, Canada

M. David Percival

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research, Kirkland, Quebec, Canada

Aldo Pinchera

Affiliation Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Margherita Maffei

To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mmaffei@dti.telethon.it

Affiliation Dulbecco Telethon Institute at Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Competing Interests

Rene St-Jacques, Sylvie Desmarais, Nicolas Morin, Joseph Mancini and M. David Percival are employees of Merck and Co., Inc. which is investigating Cathepsin K inhibitors as potential therapeutics. All the other authors do not disclose any competing interest.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MM. Performed the experiments: MF MN MR TV CC JS CC FB RS SD NM JM. Analyzed the data: MF MN MR TV JS CC PM PM RS SD NM JM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PS AP FS. Wrote the paper: MM PM FS MP.