The role of circulating factors, hormones or cytokines has been involved very early in the etiology of idiopathic scoliosis. In 1993 in Japan, Masafumi Machida, a pioneer in this field, described the relation between the absence of Melatonin (a hormone secreted in the epiphyses) and the apparition of a scoliosis in biped animals. Since then, many studies have been realized.
The current work continues to focus on melatonin and its signaling pathways, but also concentrates on other hormones such as leptin (hormone secreted by the adipic tissue) and estrogens which could be at the origin of the predominance of scoliosis in the feminine population.
The disturbances of certain cytokines, in particular osteopontin, open promising perspectives.
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