completely disable the joint. The drug, however, does not stop HO from occurring in the long run. In addition to drugs, the patient must change their live style to avoid unnecessary injury. Hopefully in the future there will be a drug that could reduce HO by nhibiting BMP pathway. Such experiments have been done on mice with positive results such as LDN-193189, a chemical that prevents activation of Smads [9]. Transgenic mice displaying HO was treated with LDN-193189 at the affected joint. The results showed treated mice had less joint ossification when compared to the same type of HO mice without injection. Also the drug has no affect on wild type mice [9]. Although a the model for treatment is still far away from clinical trials, these results give hope that signal transduction inhibitors does lessen the symptoms THE FUTURE OF FOP Over the years, the mystery of FOP seemed to have been solved with the discovery of the pathway and the related gene. However, many questions that puzzle clinicians to this day still remain. One of which is the variability in onset age. In a study done in korea, the patients all have the aCvRi gene mutation but their onset age varies [6]. For such a mutation spec ific disease, FOPs phenotype variability is puzzling Another puzzle is the mystery of the triggers of HO. Not all swellings during an episodic flare up will become bone and not all injuries lead to HO. The reason why Ho in FOP is unpred ictable remains to be explained. These factors could relate to certain pathways or mutations that are und iscovered yet CONCLUSION Many advances in understand ing FoP has been made by research teams around he world. From knowing nothing to pin pointing the mutation, FOP research had come a long way. The bMP pathway gave insight to FOP on a molecular level, which also paved a way to the discovery of the acvri gene mutation. Yet there is more work to be done regarding FOP research. A FOP specif ic drug is yet to be discovered and plenty of unanswered questions remain. The future for FOP research, however, is not only wider but also hopefulcompletely disable the joint. The drug, however, does not stop HO from occurring in the long run. In addition to drugs, the patient must change their live style to avoid unnecessary injury. Hopefully in the future there will be a drug that could reduce HO by inhibiting BMP pathway. Such experiments have been done on mice with positive results such as LDN-193189, a chemical that prevents activation of Smads [9]. Transgenic mice displaying HO was treated with LDN-193189 at the affected joint. The results showed treated mice had less joint ossification when compared to the same type of HO mice without injection. Also the drug has no affect on wild type mice [9]. Although a the model for treatment is still far away from clinical trials, these results give hope that signal transduction inhibitors does lessen the symptoms. THE FUTURE OF FOP Over the years, the mystery of FOP seemed to have been solved with the discovery of the pathway and the related gene. However, many questions that puzzle clinicians to this day still remain. One of which is the variability in onset age. In a study done in korea, the patients all have the ACVR1 gene mutation but their onset age varies [6]. For such a mutation specific disease, FOP’s phenotype variability is puzzling. Another puzzle is the mystery of the triggers of HO. Not all swellings during an episodic flare up will become bone and not all injuries lead to HO. The reason why HO in FOP is unpredictable remains to be explained. These factors could relate to certain pathways or mutations that are undiscovered yet. CONCLUSION Many advances in understanding FOP has been made by research teams around the world. From knowing nothing to pin pointing the mutation, FOP research had come a long way. The BMP pathway gave insight to FOP on a molecular level, which also paved a way to the discovery of the ACVR1 gene mutation. Yet there is more work to be done regarding FOP research. A FOP specific drug is yet to be discovered and plenty of unanswered questions remain. The future for FOP research, however, is not only wider but also hopeful