Henry T. Keutmann, M.D.


Physician Investigator (NonCl)
Endocrine Division, Mass General Research Institute
Associate Professor of Medicine (Biochemistry)
Harvard Medical School
activins; chorionic gonadotropin; follistatin; follistatin-related proteins; luteinizing hormone

In recent years, areas of particular interest have included:

  • Studies of parathyroid hormone (PTH) structure, biosynthesis and action
  • Analysis of the pathogenesis of parathyroid neoplasms
  • The use of parathyroid hormone as a therapeutic agent for human osteoporosis
  • The study of the regulation of gene expression by vitamin D and the role of the vitamin D receptor as revealed by study of "knockout" mice
  • The study of the regulation of bone development and growth, including the effects of PTHrP and the roles of micro RNAs
  • The identification of early cells of the osteoblast lineage in vivo and analysis of factors that change the fates of these progenitor cells

Long-acting analogs of PTH are being developed as possible therapies for primary hypoparathyroidism in people. Studies of FGF23, the recently described regulator of phosphate homeostasis, have involved a series of clinical and basic investigative studies. Clinical studies have also focused on the roles of androgens and estrogens on bone and other targets in males, the various roles of vitamin D and an analysis of the effectiveness of current therapies for primary hypoparathyroidism. New clinical work examines the microarchitecture of human bone noninvasively. This work is funded primarily by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), by NIH program projects and by pharmaceutical company support.