This is the first book compiling current research on the gut-bone signaling axis and its implications in the pathophysiology of GI and bone diseases. Rather than focusing on a single mechanism, this book provides the reader with a broad view on gut-bone signaling and the most up-to-date information in this rapidly growing area. The volume is also unique in that it looks at what is known about GI diseases affecting bone and then examines the role of the microbiome and its modulation by pre and probiotics to treat bone disease, placing this topic within the context of gut-bone signaling pathways. Understanding the Gut-Bone Signaling Axis will thus provide an understanding of how various therapies could be applied to this area.

Among the many GPCRs discovered, the calcitonin family of receptors comprise of members that regulate a number of physiological processes and are involved in many pathological conditions. Therefore, understanding how these receptors function is a critical question in the field. When Foord and his colleagues discovered that a single transmembrane protein called Receptor Activity Modifying Proteins (RAMPs) could modulate the surface expression of GPCRs of the calcitonin family, it widely opened the field of receptor life cycle. Hundreds of studies have confirmed the importance of RAMPs in the life cycle of this receptor family. Receptor biology is a rapidly expanding field and with the advances in cell and molecular biology and in vivo techniques, it is very likely that the field of RAMPs will explode further and many unanswered questions will be answered with in the next few years.