Bone biology
Abstract
The WNT pathway has become an attractive target for skeletal therapies. High-bone-mass phenotypes in patients with loss-of-function mutations in the LRP5/6 inhibitor Sost (sclerosteosis), or in its downstream enhancer region (van Buchem disease), highlight the utility of targeting Sost/sclerostin to improve bone properties. Sclerostin-neutralizing antibody is highly osteoanabolic in animal models and in human clinical trials, but antibody-based inhibition of another potent LRP5/6 antagonist, Dkk1, is largely inefficacious for building bone in the unperturbed adult skeleton. Here, we show that conditional deletion of Dkk1 from bone also has negligible effects on bone mass. Dkk1 inhibition increases Sost expression, suggesting a potential compensatory mechanism that might explain why Dkk1 suppression lacks anabolic action. To test this concept, we deleted Sost from osteocytes in, or administered sclerostin neutralizing antibody to, mice with a Dkk1-deficient skeleton. A robust anabolic response to Dkk1 deletion was manifest only when Sost/sclerostin was impaired. Whole-body DXA scans, μCT measurements of the femur and spine, histomorphometric measures of femoral bone formation rates, and biomechanical properties of whole bones confirmed the anabolic potential of Dkk1 inhibition in the absence of sclerostin. Further, combined administration of sclerostin and Dkk1 antibody in WT mice produced a synergistic effect on bone gain that greatly exceeded individual or additive effects of the therapies, confirming the therapeutic potential of inhibiting multiple WNT antagonists for skeletal health. In conclusion, the osteoanabolic effects of Dkk1 inhibition can be realized if sclerostin upregulation is prevented. Anabolic therapies for patients with low bone mass might benefit from a strategy that accounts for the compensatory milieu of WNT inhibitors in bone tissue.
Authors
Phillip C. Witcher, Sara E. Miner, Daniel J. Horan, Whitney A. Bullock, Kyung-Eun Lim, Kyung Shin Kang, Alison L. Adaniya, Ryan D. Ross, Gabriela G. Loots, Alexander G. Robling
Abstract
BACKGROUND. Sodium glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are the most recently approved class of drugs for type 2 diabetes and provide both glycemic efficacy and cardiovascular risk reduction. A number of safety issues have been identified, including treatment-emergent bone fractures. To understand the overall clinical profile, these safety issues must be balanced against an attractive efficacy profile. Our study was designed to investigate pathophysiological mechanisms mediating treatment-emergent adverse effects on bone health. METHODS. We conducted a single-blind randomized crossover study in hospitalized healthy adults (n = 25) receiving either canagliflozin (300 mg/d) or placebo for 5 days. The primary end-point was the drug-induced change in AUC for plasma intact fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) immunoactivity between 24 and 72 hours. RESULTS. Canagliflozin administration increased placebo-subtracted mean levels of serum phosphorus (+16%), plasma FGF23 (+20%), and plasma parathyroid hormone (PTH) (+25%), while decreasing the level of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (–10%). There was substantial interindividual variation in the magnitude of each of these pharmacodynamic responses. The increase in plasma FGF23 was correlated with the increase in serum phosphorus, and the decrease in plasma 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D was correlated with the increase in plasma FGF23. CONCLUSIONS. Canagliflozin induced a prompt increase in serum phosphorus, which triggers downstream changes in FGF23, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and PTH, with potential to exert adverse effects on bone health. These pharmacodynamic data provide a foundation for future research to elucidate pathophysiological mechanisms of adverse effects on bone health, with the objective of devising therapeutic strategies to mitigate the drug-associated fracture risk. TRIAL REGISTRATION. ClinicalTrial.gov (NCT02404870). FUNDING. Supported by the Intramural Program of NIDDK.
Authors
Jenny E. Blau, Viviana Bauman, Ellen M. Conway, Paolo Piaggi, Mary F. Walter, Elizabeth C. Wright, Shanna Bernstein, Amber B. Courville, Michael T. Collins, Kristina I. Rother, Simeon I. Taylor
Abstract
Heterotopic ossification (HO) is a significant clinical problem with incompletely resolved mechanisms. Here, the secreted metalloproteinases ADAMTS7 and ADAMTS12 are shown to comprise a unique proteoglycan class that protects against a tendency toward HO in mouse hindlimb tendons, menisci, and ligaments. Adamts7 and Adamts12 mRNAs were sparsely expressed in murine forelimbs but strongly coexpressed in hindlimb tendons, skeletal muscle, ligaments, and meniscal fibrocartilage. Adamts7–/– Adamts12–/– mice, but not corresponding single-gene mutants, which demonstrated compensatory upregulation of the intact homolog mRNA, developed progressive HO in these tissues after 4 months of age. Adamts7–/– Adamts12–/– tendons had abnormal collagen fibrils, accompanied by reduced levels of the small leucine-rich proteoglycans (SLRPs) biglycan, fibromodulin, and decorin, which regulate collagen fibrillogenesis. Bgn–/0 Fmod–/– mice are known to have a strikingly similar hindlimb HO to that of Adamts7–/– Adamts12–/– mice, implicating fibromodulin and biglycan reduction as a likely mechanism underlying HO in Adamts7–/– Adamts12–/– mice. Interestingly, degenerated human biceps tendons had reduced ADAMTS7 mRNA compared with healthy biceps tendons, which expressed both ADAMTS7 and ADAMTS12. These results suggest that ADAMTS7 and ADAMTS12 drive an innate pathway protective against hindlimb HO in mice and may be essential for human tendon health.
Authors
Timothy J. Mead, Daniel R. McCulloch, Jason C. Ho, Yaoyao Du, Sheila M. Adams, David E. Birk, Suneel S. Apte
Abstract
Pain is the predominant symptom of osteoarthritis, but the connection between joint damage and the genesis of pain is not well understood. Loss of articular cartilage is a hallmark of osteoarthritis, and it occurs through enzymatic degradation of aggrecan by cleavage mediated by a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motif 4 (ADAMTS-4) or ADAMTS-5 in the interglobular domain (E373–374A). Further cleavage by MMPs (N341–342F) releases a 32-amino-acid aggrecan fragment (32-mer). We investigated the role of this 32-mer in driving joint pain. We found that the 32-mer excites dorsal root ganglion nociceptive neurons, both in culture and in intact explants. Treatment of cultured sensory neurons with the 32-mer induced expression of the proalgesic chemokine CCL2. These effects were mediated through TLR2, which we demonstrated was expressed by nociceptive neurons. In addition, intra-articular injection of the 32-mer fragment provoked knee hyperalgesia in WT but not Tlr2-null mice. Blocking the production or action of the 32-mer in transgenic mice prevented the development of knee hyperalgesia in a murine model of osteoarthritis. These findings suggest that the aggrecan 32-mer fragment directly activates TLR2 on joint nociceptors and is an important mediator of the development of osteoarthritis-associated joint pain.
Authors
Rachel E. Miller, Shingo Ishihara, Phuong B. Tran, Suzanne B. Golub, Karena Last, Richard J. Miller, Amanda J. Fosang, Anne-Marie Malfait
Abstract
Bone remodeling is a highly coordinated process involving bone formation and resorption, and imbalance of this process results in osteoporosis. It has long been recognized that long-term heparin therapy often causes osteoporosis, suggesting that heparan sulfate (HS), the physiological counterpart of heparin, is somehow involved in bone mass regulation. The role of endogenous HS in adult bone, however, remains unclear. To determine the role of HS in bone homeostasis, we conditionally ablated Ext1, which encodes an essential glycosyltransferase for HS biosynthesis, in osteoblasts. Resultant conditional mutant mice developed severe osteopenia. Surprisingly, this phenotype is not due to impairment in bone formation but to enhancement of bone resorption. We show that osteoprotegerin (OPG), which is known as a soluble decoy receptor for RANKL, needs to be associated with the osteoblast surface in order to efficiently inhibit RANKL/RANK signaling and that HS serves as a cell surface binding partner for OPG in this context. We also show that bone mineral density is reduced in patients with multiple hereditary exostoses, a genetic bone disorder caused by heterozygous mutations of Ext1, suggesting that the mechanism revealed in this study may be relevant to low bone mass conditions in humans.
Authors
Satoshi Nozawa, Toshihiro Inubushi, Fumitoshi Irie, Iori Takigami, Kazu Matsumoto, Katsuji Shimizu, Haruhiko Akiyama, Yu Yamaguchi
Abstract
While the prevalence of osteoporosis is growing rapidly with population aging, therapeutic options remain limited. Here, we identify potentially novel roles for CaV1.2 L-type voltage–gated Ca2+ channels in osteogenesis and exploit a transgenic gain-of-function mutant CaV1.2 to stem bone loss in ovariectomized female mice. We show that endogenous CaV1.2 is expressed in developing bone within proliferating chondrocytes and osteoblasts. Using primary BM stromal cell (BMSC) cultures, we found that Ca2+ influx through CaV1.2 activates osteogenic transcriptional programs and promotes mineralization. We used Prx1-, Col2a1-, or Col1a1-Cre drivers to express an inactivation-deficient CaV1.2 mutant in chondrogenic and/or osteogenic precursors in vivo and found that the resulting increased Ca2+ influx markedly thickened bone not only by promoting osteogenesis, but also by inhibiting osteoclast activity through increased osteoprotegerin secretion from osteoblasts. Activating the CaV1.2 mutant in osteoblasts at the time of ovariectomy stemmed bone loss. Together, these data highlight roles for CaV1.2 in bone and demonstrate the potential dual anabolic and anticatabolic therapeutic actions of tissue-specific CaV1.2 activation in osteoblasts.
Authors
Chike Cao, Yinshi Ren, Adam S. Barnett, Anthony J. Mirando, Douglas Rouse, Se Hwan Mun, Kyung-Hyun Park-Min, Amy L. McNulty, Farshid Guilak, Courtney M. Karner, Matthew J. Hilton, Geoffrey S. Pitt
Abstract
Neurogenic heterotopic ossification (NHO) is the formation of ectopic bone generally in muscles surrounding joints following spinal cord or brain injury. We investigated the mechanisms of NHO formation in 64 patients and a mouse model of spinal cord injury–induced NHO. We show that marrow from human NHOs contains hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niches, in which mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and endothelial cells provide an environment supporting HSC maintenance, proliferation, and differentiation. The transcriptomic signature of MSCs from NHOs shows a neuronal imprinting associated with a molecular network required for HSC support. We demonstrate that oncostatin M (OSM) produced by activated macrophages promotes osteoblastic differentiation and mineralization of human muscle-derived stromal cells surrounding NHOs. The key role of OSM was confirmed using an experimental model of NHO in mice defective for the OSM receptor (OSMR). Our results provide strong evidence that macrophages contribute to NHO formation through the osteogenic action of OSM on muscle cells within an inflammatory context and suggest that OSM/OSMR could be a suitable therapeutic target. Altogether, the evidence of HSCs in ectopic bones growing at the expense of soft tissue in spinal cord/brain-injured patients indicates that inflammation and muscle contribute to HSC regulation by the brain-bone-blood triad.
Authors
Frédéric Torossian, Bernadette Guerton, Adrienne Anginot, Kylie A. Alexander, Christophe Desterke, Sabrina Soave, Hsu-Wen Tseng, Nassim Arouche, Laetitia Boutin, Irina Kulina, Marjorie Salga, Beulah Jose, Allison R. Pettit, Denis Clay, Nathalie Rochet, Erica Vlachos, Guillaume Genet, Charlotte Debaud, Philippe Denormandie, François Genet, Natalie A. Sims, Sébastien Banzet, Jean-Pierre Levesque, Jean-Jacques Lataillade, Marie-Caroline Le Bousse-Kerdilès
Abstract
Advanced breast cancer is frequently associated with skeletal metastases and accelerated bone loss. Recombinant parathyroid hormone [teriparatide, PTH(1-34)] is the first anabolic agent approved in the US for treatment of osteoporosis. While signaling through the PTH receptor in the osteoblast lineage regulates bone marrow hematopoietic niches, the effects of anabolic PTH on the skeletal metastatic niche are unknown. Here, we demonstrate, using orthotopic and intratibial models of 4T1 murine and MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer tumors, that anabolic PTH decreases both tumor engraftment and the incidence of spontaneous skeletal metastasis in mice. Microcomputed tomography and histomorphometric analyses revealed that PTH increases bone volume and reduces tumor engraftment and volume. Transwell migration assays with murine and human breast cancer cells revealed that PTH alters the gene expression profile of the metastatic niche, in particular VCAM-1, to inhibit recruitment of cancer cells. While PTH did not affect growth or migration of the primary tumor, it elicited several changes in the tumor gene expression profile resulting in a less metastatic phenotype. In conclusion, PTH treatment in mice alters the bone microenvironment, resulting in decreased cancer cell engraftment, reduced incidence of metastases, preservation of bone microarchitecture and prolonged survival.
Authors
Srilatha Swami, Joshua Johnson, Lance A. Bettinson, Takaharu Kimura, Hui Zhu, Megan A. Albertelli, Rachelle W. Johnson, Joy Y. Wu
Abstract
Decreased cortical thickness and increased cortical porosity are the key anatomic changes responsible for osteoporotic fractures in elderly women and men. The cellular basis of these changes is unbalanced endosteal and intracortical osteonal remodeling by the osteoclasts and osteoblasts that comprise the basic multicellular units (BMUs). Like humans, mice lose cortical bone with age, but unlike humans, this loss occurs in the face of sex steroid sufficiency. Mice are therefore an ideal model to dissect age-specific osteoporotic mechanisms. Nevertheless, lack of evidence for endosteal or intracortical remodeling in mice has raised questions about their translational relevance. We show herein that administration of the antiosteoclastogenic cytokine osteoprotegerin to Swiss Webster mice ablated not only osteoclasts, but also endosteal bone formation, demonstrating the occurrence of BMU-based endosteal remodeling. Femoral cortical thickness decreased in aged male and female C57BL/6J mice, as well as F1 hybrids of C57BL/6J and BALB/cBy mice. This decrease was greater in C57BL/6J mice, indicating a genetic influence. Moreover, endosteal remodeling became unbalanced because of increased osteoclast and decreased osteoblast numbers. The porosity of the femoral cortex increased with age but was much higher in females of both strains. Notably, the increased cortical porosity resulted from de novo intracortical remodeling by osteon-like structures. Age-dependent cortical bone loss was associated with increased osteocyte DNA damage, cellular senescence, the senescence-associated secretory phenotype, and increased levels of RANKL. The demonstration of unbalanced endosteal and intracortical remodeling in old mice validates the relevance of this animal model to involutional osteoporosis in humans.
Authors
Marilina Piemontese, Maria Almeida, Alexander G. Robling, Ha-Neui Kim, Jinhu Xiong, Jeff D. Thostenson, Robert S. Weinstein, Stavros C. Manolagas, Charles A. O’Brien, Robert L. Jilka
Abstract
Postnatal bone formation is influenced by nutritional status and compromised by disturbances in metabolism. The oxidation of dietary lipids represents a critical source of ATP for many cells but has been poorly studied in the skeleton, where the prevailing view is that glucose is the primary energy source. Here, we examined fatty acid uptake by bone and probed the requirement for fatty acid catabolism during bone formation by specifically disrupting the expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 2 (Cpt2), an obligate enzyme in fatty acid oxidation, in osteoblasts and osteocytes. Radiotracer studies demonstrated that the skeleton accumulates a significant fraction of postprandial fatty acids, which was equal to or in excess of that acquired by skeletal muscle or adipose tissue. Female, but not male, Cpt2 mutant mice exhibited significant impairments in postnatal bone acquisition, potentially due to an inability of osteoblasts to modify fuel selection. Intriguingly, suppression of fatty acid utilization by osteoblasts and osteocytes also resulted in the development of dyslipidemia and diet-dependent modifications in body composition. Taken together, these studies demonstrate a requirement for fatty acid oxidation during bone accrual and suggest a role for the skeleton in lipid homeostasis.
Authors
Soohyun P. Kim, Zhu Li, Meredith L. Zoch, Julie L. Frey, Caitlyn E. Bowman, Priyanka Kushwaha, Kathleen A. Ryan, Brian C. Goh, Susanna Scafidi, Julie E. Pickett, Marie-Claude Faugere, Erin E. Kershaw, Daniel L. J. Thorek, Thomas L. Clemens, Michael J. Wolfgang, Ryan C. Riddle
No posts were found with this tag.
