Bone Abstracts

The neuro-hypophiseal hormone oxytocin (OT) is a novel anabolic regulator of bone mass (Tamma et al. PNAS, 2009), upregulating expression of critical osteoblast transcription factors. These effects are mediated by oxytocin receptor, a GPCR expressed by osteoblasts. Recently an increasing number of reports indicates that GPCRs could be targeted to the nuclear membrane; prostaglandin receptors, endothelin receptors and β-adrenergic receptors among others (...

see PP212....

It has been recently reported that, after physical exercise activity, the skeletal muscle releases Irisin, the newly identified myokine able of driving transition of white adipocytes to brown, following a phenomenon known as the browning response. This result has suggested that skeletal muscle is crucial in the regulation of energy homeostasis, supporting the idea that it can be considered an endocrine organ that targets adipose tissue by promoting energy expenditure. In accor...

Children with 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD) need chronic glucocorticoid (cGC) therapy to replace congenital deficit of cortisol synthesis, and this therapy is the most frequent and severe form of drug-induced osteoporosis. In the study we enrolled 18 patients (9 females) and 18 sex- and age-matched controls. We found in 21-OHD patients high serum and leukocyte levels of dickkopf-1 (DKK1), a secreted antagonist of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, known to be a key...

Irisin is a hormone-like myokine secreted from skeletal muscle in response to exercise. Considering that an intimate relationship between skeletal muscle and bone has been well established and that physical exercise physiologically stimulates the skeleton strengthening, we explored the involvement of Irisin on bone metabolism.Our findings demonstrated that the myokine Irisin improves cortical bone mass and geometry in vivo, supporting the idea t...

LIGHT (TNFSF14), expressed by different cells of the immune system, binds two trans-membrane receptors: HVEM and LTβR. It is over-expressed in erosive rheumatoid arthritis and lytic myeloma-bone disease and controversial data have been published on its role osteoclast (OC) formation in vitro. Here, we investigated the role of LIGHT on in vitro murine osteoclastogenesis model and bone phenotype in LIGHT−/− mice. Firstly, we showed that murin...