Increased chemotaxis and activity of circulatory myeloid progenitor cells may contribute to enhanced osteoclastogenesis and bone loss in the C57BL/6 mouse model of collagen-induced arthritis.

Our study aimed to determine the functional activity of different osteoclast progenitor (OCP) subpopulations and signals important for their migration to bone lesions, causing local and systemic bone resorption during the course of collagen-induced arthritis in C57BL/6 mice. Arthritis was induced with chicken type II collagen (CII), and assessed by clinical scoring and detection of anti-CII antibodies. We observed decreased trabecular bone volume of axial and appendicular skeleton by histomorphometry and micro-computed tomography as well as decreased bone formation and increased bone resorption rate in arthritic mice in vivo. In the affected joints, bone loss was accompanied with severe osteitis and bone marrow hypercellularity, coinciding with the areas of active osteoclasts and bone erosions. Flow cytometry analysis showed increased frequency of putative OCP cells (CD3- B220- NK1.1- CD11b-/lo CD117+ CD115+ for bone marrow and CD3- B220- NK1.1- CD11b+ CD115+ Gr-1+ for peripheral haematopoietic tissues), which exhibited enhanced differentiation potential in vitro. Moreover, the total CD11b+ population was expanded in arthritic mice as well as CD11b+ F4/80+ macrophage, CD11b+ NK1.1+ natural killer cell and CD11b+ CD11c+ myeloid dendritic cell populations in both bone marrow and peripheral blood. In addition, arthritic mice had increased expression of tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, CC chemokine ligand-2 (Ccl2) and Ccl5, with increased migration and differentiation of circulatory OCPs in response to CCL2 and, particularly, CCL5 signals. Our study characterized the frequency and functional properties of OCPs under inflammatory conditions associated with arthritis, which may help to clarify crucial molecular signals provided by immune cells to mediate systemically enhanced osteoresorption.

Activated T lymphocytes suppress osteoclastogenesis by diverting early monocyte/macrophage progenitor lineage commitment towards dendritic cell differentiation through down-regulation of receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB and c-Fos.

Activated T lymphocytes either stimulate or inhibit osteoclastogenesis from haematopoietic progenitors in different experimental models. To address this controversy, we used several modes of T lymphocyte activation in osteoclast differentiation--mitogen-pulse, anti-CD3/CD28 stimulation and in vivo and in vitro alloactivation. Osteoclast-like cells were generated from non-adherent immature haematopoietic monocyte/macrophage progenitors in murine bone-marrow in the presence of receptor activator of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB ligand (RANKL) and monocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF). All modes of in vivo and in vitro T lymphocyte activation and both CD4(+) and CD8(+) subpopulations produced similar inhibitory effects on osteoclastogenesis paralleled by enhanced dendritic cell (DC) differentiation. Osteoclast-inhibitory effect was associated with T lymphocyte activation and not proliferation, and could be replaced by their culture supernatants. The stage of osteoclast differentiation was crucial for the inhibitory action of activated T lymphocytes on osteoclastogenesis, because the suppressive effect was visible only on early osteoclast progenitors but not on committed osteoclasts. Inhibition was associated specifically with increased granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) expression by the mechanism of progenitor commitment toward lineages other than osteoclast because activated T lymphocytes down-regulated RANK, CD115, c-Fos and calcitonin receptor expression, and increased differentiation towards CD11c-positive DC. An activated T lymphocyte inhibitory role in osteoclastogenesis, confirmed in vitro and in vivo, mediated through GM-CSF release, may be used to counteract activated bone resorption mediated by T lymphocyte-derived cytokines in inflammatory and immune disorders. We also demonstrated the importance of alloactivation in osteoclast differentiation and the ability of cyclosporin A to abrogate T lymphocyte inhibition of osteoclastogenesis, thereby confirming the functional link between alloreaction and bone metabolism.

Alteration of newly induced endochondral bone formation in adult mice without tumour necrosis factor receptor 1.

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, a major proinflammatory cytokine, exerts its role on bone cells through two receptors (TNFR1 and TNFR2). TNFR1, but not TNFR2, is expressed by osteoblasts and its function in bone formation in vivo is not fully understood. We compared in vivo new bone formation in TNFR1-deficient (TNFR1(-/-)) mice and wild-type mice, using two models of bone formation: intramembranous ossification following tibial marrow ablation and endochondral ossification induced by bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2. Intramembranous osteogenesis in TNFR1(-/-) mice did not differ from the wild-type mice either in histomorphometric parameters or mRNA expression of bone-related markers and inflammatory cytokines. During endochondral osteogenesis, TNFR1(-/-) mice formed more cartilage (at post-implantation day 9), followed by more bone and bone marrow (at day 12). mRNAs for BMP-2, -4 and -7 were increased during the endochondral differentiation sequence in TNFR1(-/-) mice. The expression of receptor activator of NF-kappa B ligand (RANKL) and receptor activator of NF-kappa B (RANK), as assessed by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), was also increased significantly during endochondral ossification in TNFR1(-/-) mice. In conclusion, signalling through the TNFR1 seems to be a negative regulator of new tissue formation during endochondral but not intramembranous osteogenesis in an adult organism. BMPs and RANKL and its receptor RANK may be involved in the change of local environment in the absence of TNFR1 signalling.