Bmp2 in osteoblasts of periosteum and trabecular bone links bone formation to vascularization and mesenchymal stem cells.

We generated a new Bmp2 conditional-knockout allele without a neo cassette that removes the Bmp2 gene from osteoblasts (Bmp2-cKO(ob)) using the 3.6Col1a1-Cre transgenic model. Bones of Bmp2-cKO(ob) mice are thinner, with increased brittleness. Osteoblast activity is reduced as reflected in a reduced bone formation rate and failure to differentiate to a mature mineralizing stage. Bmp2 in osteoblasts also indirectly controls angiogenesis in the periosteum and bone marrow. VegfA production is reduced in Bmp2-cKO(ob) osteoblasts. Deletion of Bmp2 in osteoblasts also leads to defective mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which correlates with the reduced microvascular bed in the periosteum and trabecular bones. Expression of several MSC marker genes (α-SMA, CD146 and Angiopoietin-1) in vivo, in vitro CFU assays and deletion of Bmp2 in vitro in α-SMA(+) MSCs support our conclusions. Critical roles of Bmp2 in osteoblasts and MSCs are a vital link between bone formation, vascularization and mesenchymal stem cells.

Host-derived adiponectin is tumor-suppressive and a novel therapeutic target for multiple myeloma and the associated bone disease.

The contributions of the host microenvironment to the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma, including progression from the non-malignant disorder monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, are poorly understood. In the present study, microarray analysis of a murine model requiring a unique host microenvironment for myeloma development identified decreased host-derived adiponectin compared with normal mice. In support, clinical analysis revealed decreased serum adiponectin concentrations in monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance patients who subsequently progressed to myeloma. We investigated the role of adiponectin in myeloma pathogenesis and as a treatment approach, using both mice deficient in adiponectin and pharmacologic enhancement of circulating adiponectin. Increased tumor burden and bone disease were observed in myeloma-bearing adiponectin-deficient mice, and adiponectin was found to induce myeloma cell apoptosis. The apolipoprotein peptide mimetic L-4F was used for pharmacologic enhancement of adiponectin. L-4F reduced tumor burden, increased survival of myeloma-bearing mice, and prevented myeloma bone disease. Collectively, our studies have identified a novel mechanism whereby decreased host-derived adiponectin promotes myeloma tumor growth and osteolysis. Furthermore, we have established the potential therapeutic benefit of increasing adiponectin for the treatment of myeloma and the associated bone disease.

Bone metastasis: can osteoclasts be excluded?

The RANK/RANKL signalling mechanism is the final common pathway of osteoclast formation and activity. Inhibitors of RANK ligand (RANKL) that bind to RANK (for 'receptor activator of NF-kappaB'), such as osteoprotegerin (OPG), neutralizing antibodies against RANKL and soluble RANK antagonists, are well described inhibitors of bone metastasis in preclinical and clinical models, presumably because of their effects on osteoclasts. Jones et al. show that OPG inhibits bone metastasis after intracardiac injection of B16F10 murine melanoma cells, but claim that bone metastases are entirely independent of osteoclast formation and bone resorption: rather, they are caused by an effect on cell migration through RANK. However, we question whether these surprising conclusions are rigorously supported by their data.

Metastasis to bone: causes, consequences and therapeutic opportunities.

The most common human cancers --lung, breast and prostate -- have a great avidity for bone, leading to painful and untreatable consequences. What makes some cancers, but not others, metastasize to bone, and how do they alter its physiology? Some of the molecular mechanisms that are responsible have recently been identified, and provide new molecular targets for drug development.

The osteoclast-not always guilty.

Osteopetrosis is usually regarded as the disease of nonfunctioning osteoclasts, with a consequent accumulation of osseocartilaginous material in the bone marrow. A recent report shows that, in some patients with the rare autosomal recessive form of the disease, the osteoclast defect may be non-cell autonomous, in this case due to a mutation in RANKL, the protein that normally controls osteoclast formation and activity.

Targeting the Transforming Growth Factor-beta pathway inhibits human basal-like breast cancer metastasis.

BACKGROUND: Transforming Growth Factor beta (TGF-beta) plays an important role in tumor invasion and metastasis. We set out to investigate the possible clinical utility of TGF-beta antagonists in a human metastatic basal-like breast cancer model. We examined the effects of two types of the TGF-beta pathway antagonists (1D11, a mouse monoclonal pan-TGF-beta neutralizing antibody and LY2109761, a chemical inhibitor of TGF-beta type I and II receptor kinases) on sublines of basal cell-like MDA-MB-231 human breast carcinoma cells that preferentially metastasize to lungs (4175TR, 4173) or bones (SCP2TR, SCP25TR, 2860TR, 3847TR). RESULTS: Both 1D11 and LY2109761 effectively blocked TGF-beta-induced phosphorylation of receptor-associated Smads in all MDA-MB-231 subclones in vitro. Moreover, both antagonists inhibited TGF-beta stimulated in vitro migration and invasiveness of MDA-MB-231 subclones, indicating that these processes are partly driven by TGF-beta. In addition, both antagonists significantly reduced the metastatic burden to either lungs or bones in vivo, seemingly independently of intrinsic differences between the individual tumor cell clones. Besides inhibiting metastasis in a tumor cell autonomous manner, the TGF-beta antagonists inhibited angiogenesis associated with lung metastases and osteoclast number and activity associated with lytic bone metastases. In aggregate, these studies support the notion that TGF-beta plays an important role in both bone-and lung metastases of basal-like breast cancer, and that inhibiting TGF-beta signaling results in a therapeutic effect independently of the tissue-tropism of the metastatic cells. Targeting the TGF-beta pathway holds promise as a novel therapeutic approach for metastatic basal-like breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: In aggregate, these studies support the notion that TGF-beta plays an important role in both bone-and lung metastases of basal-like breast cancer, and that inhibiting TGF-beta signaling results in a therapeutic effect independently of the tissue-tropism of the metastatic cells. Targeting the TGF-beta pathway holds promise as a novel therapeutic approach for metastatic basal-like breast cancer.

Theoretical investigation of the role of the RANK-RANKL-OPG system in bone remodeling.

The RANK-RANKL-OPG system is an essential signaling pathway involved in bone cell-cell communication, with ample evidence that modification of the RANK-RANKL-OPG signaling pathway has major effects on bone remodeling. The first focus of this paper is to demonstrate that a theoretical model of bone cell-cell interactions is capable of qualitatively reproducing changes in bone associated with RANK-RANKL-OPG signaling. To do this we consider either biological experiments or bone diseases related to receptor and/or ligand deficiencies, including RANKL over-expression, ablation of OPG production and/or RANK receptor modifications. The second focus is to investigate a wide range of possible therapeutic strategies for re-establishing bone homeostasis for various pathologies of the RANK-RANKL-OPG pathway. These simulations indicate that bone diseases associated with the RANK-RANKL-OPG pathway are very effective in triggering bone resorption compared to bone formation. These results align with Hofbauer's "convergence hypothesis", which states that catabolic bone diseases most effectively act through the RANK-RANKL-OPG system. Additionally, we demonstrate that severity of catabolic bone diseases strongly depends on how many components of this pathway are affected. Using optimization algorithms and the theoretical model, we identify a variety of successful "virtual therapies" for different disease states using both single and dual therapies.

Bone morphogenetic protein receptor signaling is necessary for normal murine postnatal bone formation.

Functions of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are initiated by signaling through specific type I and type II serine/threonine kinase receptors. In previous studies, we have demonstrated that the type IB BMP receptor (BMPR-IB) plays an essential and specific role in osteoblast commitment and differentiation. To determine the role of BMP receptor signaling in bone formation in vivo, we generated transgenic mice, which express a truncated dominant-negative BMPR-IB targeted to osteoblasts using the type I collagen promoter. The mice are viable and fertile. Tissue-specific expression of the truncated BMPR-IB was demonstrated. Characterization of the phenotype of these transgenic mice showed impairment of postnatal bone formation in 1-mo-old homozygous transgenic mice. Bone mineral density, bone volume, and bone formation rates were severely reduced, but osteoblast and osteoclast numbers were not significantly changed in the transgenic mice. To determine whether osteoblast differentiation is impaired, we used primary osteoblasts isolated from the transgenic mice and showed that BMP signaling is blocked and BMP2-induced mineralized bone matrix formation was inhibited. These studies show the effects of alterations in BMP receptor function targeted to the osteoblast lineage and demonstrate a necessary role of BMP receptor signaling in postnatal bone growth and bone formation in vivo.

Myeloma cells exhibit an increase in proteasome activity and an enhanced response to proteasome inhibition in the bone marrow microenvironment in vivo.

The proteasome inhibitor bortezomib has a striking clinical benefit in patients with multiple myeloma. It is unknown whether the bone marrow microenvironment directly contributes to the dramatic response of myeloma cells to proteasome inhibition in vivo. We have used the well-characterized 5TGM1 murine model of myeloma to investigate myeloma growth within bone and response to the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib in vivo. Myeloma cells freshly isolated from the bone marrow of myeloma-bearing mice were found to have an increase in proteasome activity and an enhanced response to in vitro proteasome inhibition, as compared with pre-inoculation myeloma cells. Treatment of myeloma-bearing mice with bortezomib resulted in a greater reduction in tumor burden when the myeloma cells were located within the bone marrow when compared with extra-osseous sites. Our results demonstrate that myeloma cells exhibit an increase in proteasome activity and an enhanced response to bortezomib treatment when located within the bone marrow microenvironment in vivo.

The zinc finger transcription factor Gli2 mediates bone morphogenetic protein 2 expression in osteoblasts in response to hedgehog signaling.

Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) plays a critical role in osteoblast function. In Drosophila, Cubitus interruptus (Ci), which mediates hedgehog signaling, regulates gene expression of dpp, the ortholog of mammalian BMP-2. Null mutation of the transcription factor Gli2, a mammalian homolog of Ci, results in severe skeletal abnormalities in mice. We hypothesize that Gli2 regulates BMP-2 gene transcription and thus osteoblast differentiation. In the present study, we show that overexpression of Gli2 enhances BMP-2 promoter activity and mRNA expression in osteoblast precursor cells. In contrast, knocking down Gli2 expression by Gli2 small interfering RNA or genetic ablation of the Gli2 gene results in significant inhibition of BMP-2 gene expression in osteoblasts. Promoter analyses, including chromatin immunoprecipitation and electrophoretic mobility shift assays, provided direct evidence that Gli2 physically interacts with the BMP-2 promoter. Functional studies showed that Gli2 is required for osteoblast maturation in a BMP-2-dependent manner. Finally, Sonic hedgehog (Shh) stimulates BMP-2 promoter activity and osteoblast differentiation, and the effects of Shh are mediated by Gli2. Taken together, these results indicate that Gli2 mediates hedgehog signaling in osteoblasts and is a powerful activator of BMP-2 gene expression, which is required in turn for normal osteoblast differentiation.

PTH-related peptide (PTHrP) in hypercalcemia.

It is now 20 years since the tumor-associated factor parathyroid hormone-related peptide was identified. Since then, there have been significant changes in the understanding of the hypercalcemic syndromes associated with malignancy and with the role of this peptide in normal physiology as well as this specialized pathologic setting. Parathyroid hormone-related peptide has become a useful diagnostic tool in the differential diagnosis of hypercalcemia, and approaches to inhibit its expression or its effects by malignant cells hold promise for treating the hypercalcemia and osteolysis associated with some cancers.

The pathogenesis of the bone disease of multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma is a fatal hematologic malignancy associated with clonal expansion of malignant plasma cells within the bone marrow and the development of a destructive osteolytic bone disease. The principal cellular mechanisms involved in the development of myeloma bone disease are an increase in osteoclastic bone resorption, and a reduction in bone formation. Myeloma cells are found in close association with sites of active bone resorption, and the interactions between myeloma cells and other cells within the specialized bone marrow microenvironment are essential, both for tumor growth and the development of myeloma bone disease. This review discusses the many different factors which have been implicated in myeloma bone disease, including the evidence for their role in myeloma and subsequent therapeutic implications.

Model structure and control of bone remodeling: a theoretical study.

It is generally accepted that RANKL is highly expressed in osteoblast precursor cells while OPG is highly expressed in mature osteoblasts, but to date no functional utility to the BMU has been proposed for this particular ligand-decoy-receptor expression profile. As discovered in the mid 90s, the RANK-RANKL-OPG signaling cascade is a major signaling pathway regulating bone remodeling. In this paper we study theoretically the functional implications of particular RANKL/OPG expression profiles on bone volume. For this purpose we formulate an extended bone-cell dynamics model describing functional behaviour of basic multicellular units (BMUs) responsible for bone resorption and formation. This model incorporates the RANK-RANKL-OPG signaling together with the regulating action of TGF-beta on bone cells. The bone-cell population model employed here builds on the work of Lemaire et al. (2004) [1], but incorporates the following significant modifications: (i) addition of a rate equation describing changes in bone volume with time as the key 'output function' tracking functional behaviour of BMUs, (ii) a rate equation describing release of TGF-beta from the bone matrix, (iii) expression of OPG and RANKL on both osteoblastic cell lines, and (iv) modified activator/repressor functions. Using bone volume as a functional selection criterion, we find that there is a preferred arrangement for ligand expression on particular cell types, and further, that this arrangement coincides with biological observations. We then investigate the model parameter space combinatorially, searching for preferred 'groupings' of changes in differentiation rates of various cell types. Again, a criterion of bone volume change is employed to identify possible ways of optimally controlling BMU responses. While some combinations of changes in differentiation rates are clearly unrealistic, other combinations of changes in differentiation rates are potentially functionally significant. Most importantly, the combination of parameter changes representing the signaling pathway for TGF-beta gives a unique result that appears to have a clear biological rationale. The methodological approach for the investigation of model structure described here offers a theoretical explanation as to why TGF-beta has its particular suite of biological effects on bone-cell differentiation rates.

Eph receptors and ephrin signaling pathways: a role in bone homeostasis.

The maintenance of bone homeostasis is tightly controlled, and largely dependent upon cellular communication between osteoclasts and osteoblasts, and the coupling of bone resorption to bone formation. This tight coupling is essential for the correct function and maintenance of the skeletal system, repairing microscopic skeletal damage and replacing aged bone. A range of pathologic diseases, including osteoporosis and cancer-induced bone disease, disrupt this coupling and cause subsequent alterations in bone homeostasis. Eph receptors and their associated ligands, ephrins, play critical roles in a number of cellular processes including immune regulation, neuronal development and cancer metastasis. Eph receptors are also expressed by cells found within the bone marrow microenvironment, including osteoclasts and osteoblasts, and there is increasing evidence to implicate this family of receptors in the control of normal and pathological bone remodeling.

Inhibition of pulmonary and skeletal metastasis by a transforming growth factor-beta type I receptor kinase inhibitor.

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) signaling has been shown to promote invasion and metastasis in various models of human cancers. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of a TGF-beta type I receptor kinase inhibitor (TbetaRI-I) to limit early systemic metastases in an orthotopic xenograft model of lung metastasis and in an intracardiac injection model of experimental bone and lung metastasis using human breast carcinoma MDA-MB-435-F-L cells, a highly metastatic variant of human breast cancer MDA-MB-435 cells, expressing the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). Treatment of the cells with the TbetaRI-I had no effect on their growth but blocked TGF-beta-stimulated expression of integrin alpha(v)beta(3) and cell migration in vitro. Systemic administration of the TbetaRI-I via i.p. injection effectively reduced the number and size of the lung metastasis in both orthotopic xenograft and experimental metastasis models with no effects on primary tumor growth rate compared with controls. TbetaRI-I treatment also reduced the incidence of widespread early skeletal metastases in the femur, tibia, mandible, and spine detected by whole-body EGFP fluorescence imaging. Tumor burden in femora and tibiae was also reduced after TbetaRI-I treatment as detected by histomorphometry analysis compared with the placebo controls. Our results indicate for the first time that abrogation of TGF-beta signaling by systemic administration of the TbetaRI-I can inhibit both early lung and bone metastasis in animal model systems and suggest antimetastatic therapeutic potential of the TbetaRI-I.

The hedgehog signaling molecule Gli2 induces parathyroid hormone-related peptide expression and osteolysis in metastatic human breast cancer cells.

Parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) is a major factor involved in tumor-induced osteolysis caused by breast cancers that have metastasized to bone. However, the molecular mechanisms that mediate PTHrP production by breast cancer cells are not entirely clear. We hypothesized that Gli2, a downstream transcriptional effector of the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway, regulates PTHrP expression in metastatic breast cancer because the Hh pathway regulates physiologic PTHrP expression in the developing growth plate. Here, we show that Gli2 is expressed in several human cancer cell lines that cause osteolytic lesions in vivo and produce PTHrP (MDA-MB-231, RWGT2, and PC-3) but is not expressed in nonosteolytic cancer cell lines that do not secrete PTHrP (MCF-7, ZR-75, and T47D). Transient expression of Gli2 in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells increased PTHrP promoter-luciferase activity dose dependently. Stable expression of Gli2 in MDA-MB-231 cells resulted in an increase in PTHrP protein in the conditioned medium. Alternatively, MDA-MB-231 cells stably transfected with Gli2-EnR, a repressor of Gli2 activity, exhibited a 72% to 93% decrease in PTHrP mRNA by quantitative real-time PCR when compared with control cells. To examine the effects of Gli2 on breast cancer-mediated osteolysis in vivo, athymic nude mice were inoculated with MDA-MB-231 cells stably expressing Gli2 or the empty vector. Following tumor cell inoculation via the left cardiac ventricle, Gli2-expressing tumors caused significantly more osteolysis. Together, these data suggest that PTHrP expression and osteolysis in vivo in human breast cancer cells is driven at least in part by Gli2.

Detection of myeloma in skeleton of mice by whole-body optical fluorescence imaging.

Development of new therapies for myeloma has been hindered by the lack of suitable preclinical animal models of the disease in which widespread tumor foci in the skeleton can be detected reliably. Traditional means of detecting skeletal tumor infiltration such as histopathology are cumbersome and labor-intensive and do not allow temporal monitoring of tumor progression or regression in response to therapy. To resolve this problem, we modified the Radl 5TGM1 model of myeloma bone disease such that fluorescent myeloma tumors can be optically imaged in situ. Here, we show that murine myeloma 5TGM1 tumor cells, engineered to express enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP; 5TGM1-eGFP cells), can be imaged in a temporal fashion using a fluorescence illuminator and a charge-coupled device camera in skeletons of live C57BL/KaLwRij mice. High-resolution, whole-body images of tumor-bearing mice revealed that myeloma cells homed almost exclusively to the skeleton, with multiple focal tumor foci in the axial skeleton, consistent with myeloma tumor distribution in humans. Finally, the tested antitumor treatment effect of Velcade (bortezomib), a proteasome inhibitor used clinically in myeloma, was readily detected by GFP imaging, suggesting the power of the technique in combination with the Radl 5TGM1-eGFP model for rapid preclinical assessment and sensitive monitoring of novel and potential therapeutics. Whole-body GFP imaging is practical, convenient, inexpensive, and rapid, and these advantages should enable a high throughput when evaluating in vivo efficacy of new potential antimyeloma therapeutics and assessing response to treatment.

The polyphenol resveratrol promotes skeletal growth in mice through a sirtuin 1-bone morphogenic protein 2 longevity axis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The polyphenol resveratrol (RSV) exists in high quantities in certain foods (e.g. grapes and nuts). However, the capacity of RSV to confer physiological health benefits and a biological mechanism through which this might occur remains unclear. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Aged, RSV-treated (300 mg·kg-1 ·day-1 ) and genetically modified [endothelial NOS (eNOS-/- )] female mice were assessed using histomorphometric and µCT analysis. Alongside in vivo analysis, molecular siRNA knockdown and pharmacological manipulation of eNOS, BMP2 and sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) and functional cellular assays in an osteoblast cell line panel, explored the mechanism through which RSV might impact overall bone volume. KEY RESULTS: RSV promoted osteoblast activity and bone growth in vivo. RSV dose-dependently and simultaneously increased alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and eNOS levels. Similarly, NO-donor treatment increased ALP, runt homology transcription factor 2, BMP2 and stimulated bone formation, whilst eNOS-deficient mice displayed a bone loss phenotype. Moreover, RSV-induced increase in ALP and BMP2 expression was blocked in eNOS-/- osteoblasts and by BMP-inhibitor noggin. The longevity-linked SIRT1 enzyme was positively regulated by RSV and SIRT1 deletion reduced eNOS, BMP2 and ALP. Like eNOS deletion, loss of SIRT1 blocked RSV-induced osteoblast activity; however, SIRT1 levels remained unchanged in eNOS-/- mice, indicating RSV activation of SIRT1 stimulates BMP2 release via eNOS. This signalling axis is supported by decreased SIRT1, eNOS and BMP2 confirmed in old versus young bone. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: These findings suggest a new mechanism of action in bone remodelling and the ageing skeleton, where RSV positively impacts bone homeostasis via SIRT1 activation of BMP2.

Guanosine nucleotides inhibit different syndromes of PTHrP excess caused by human cancers in vivo.

There are two well-described syndromes caused by tumor production of parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP), namely osteolytic bone disease associated with breast cancer and humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy (HHM) that occurs with or without bone metastasis. Both syndromes have been shown experimentally to be inhibited by neutralizing antibodies to PTHrP. In a search for small-molecule inhibitors of PTHrP production or effects, we have identified guanine-nucleotide analogs as compounds that inhibit PTHrP expression by human tumor cells associated with these syndromes. We show in nude athymic murine models that these compounds reduce PTHrP-mediated osteolytic lesions associated with metastatic human breast-cancer cells as well as the degree of hypercalcemia caused by excessive PTHrP production by a squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung. These results suggest that the PTHrP gene promoter may be a suitable target for treating the skeletal effects of malignancy.

Caspase-2 deficiency enhances aging-related traits in mice.

Alteration of apoptotic activity has been observed in a number of tissues in aging mammals, but it remains unclear whether and/or how apoptosis may affect aging. Caspase-2 is a member of the cysteine protease family that plays a critical role in apoptosis. To understand the impact of compromised apoptosis function on mammalian aging, we conducted a comparative study on caspase-2 deficient mice and their wild-type littermates with a specific focus on the aging-related traits at advanced ages. We found that caspase-2 deficiency enhanced a number of traits commonly seen in premature aging animals. Loss of caspase-2 was associated with shortened maximum lifespan, impaired hair growth, increased bone loss, and reduced body fat content. In addition, we found that the livers of caspase-2 deficient mice had higher levels of oxidized proteins than those of age-matched wild-type mice, suggesting that caspase-2 deficiency compromised the animal's ability to clear oxidatively damaged cells. Collectively, these results suggest that caspase-2 deficiency affects aging in the mice. This study thus demonstrates for the first time that disruption of a key apoptotic gene has a significant impact on aging.