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Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Center for Osteoporosis and Metabolic Bone Diseases, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and the Central Arkansas Veterans Health Care System, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205
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ABSTRACT |
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 TOP ABSTRACT I. IntroductionII. Effects of Sex Steroids on...III. Effects of Sex Steroids on...IV. Effects of Sex Steroids on...V. Pharmocotherapeutic Implications of...ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSREFERENCES |
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I. Introduction |
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TOPABSTRACTI. IntroductionII. Effects of Sex Steroids on...III. Effects of Sex Steroids on...IV. Effects of Sex Steroids on...V. Pharmocotherapeutic Implications of...ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSREFERENCES |
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The purpose of this review is to provide a personal perspective of our group’s contribution to the advancement of understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which estrogens and androgens influence adult bone homeostasis and, by extension, the pathogenetic mechanisms responsible for the development of osteoporosis following sex steroid deficiency. This chapter also will point out new pharmacotherapeutic opportunities brought about with the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of the anti-osteoporotic effects of sex steroids.
A. THE WORKING HYPOTHESIS
The adult skeleton regenerates continuously in the form of a periodic replacement of old bone with new. This process, called remodeling, is accomplished by temporary anatomic structures comprising osteoclasts in the front, which excavate old bone, and osteoblasts in the rear, which fill the fresh cavities with new bone. These so-called basic multicellular units (BMUs) arise from progenitor cells residing in the bone marrow. After the BMUs complete their task, usually in a period of 6 to 9 months in humans, they disappear without trace due to the apoptotic death of the executive cells of the unit. The rate of remodeling depends on the number of cycles but the effects on bone mass depend on the focal balance within each cycle. Sex steroid deficiency, as well as old age and glucocorticoid excess, do not cause loss of bone mass by turning on a completely new process. Instead, they cause a derangement in the normal process of bone regeneration.
Until the 1990s, research on the pathophysiology of osteoporosis had focused on the functions of differentiated cells: the rates and/or total amounts of bone resorbed or formed by individual osteoclasts or osteoblasts. But these cells have relatively short active lifespans that are within the range of lifespans of the other cells that originate in the bone marrow. Such cells must be continually replaced; the number present depends both on the birth rate, which reflects the frequency of cell division of the appropriate precursor cell, and on the lifespan, which most likely reflects the timing of death by apoptosis. The importance of the distinction between cell number and individual cell function often has been obscured by using the vague term "activity" (Manolagas, 1999). The essential hypothesis tested by our work is that the balance between bone resorption and bone formation depends more on the number of cells carrying out these processes than on their individual capacities. Since these cells originate from precursor cells within the bone marrow, our research has placed particular attention to relationships between the different components of this complex tissue and the birth of osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Recognition of the fact that osteoblasts and osteoclasts disappear without a trace guided us more recently to the study of cell death that, for both cell types, is as important as cell birth in determining overall cell numbers.
B. DISTINCTION BETWEEN GROWING AND NONGROWING SKELETON
In addition to their effects on the maintenance of the homeostasis of the adult skeleton during its continuous regeneration by the process of bone remodeling, estrogens and androgens play a very profound role in skeletal growth and perhaps the sexual dimorphism of the skeleton. Bone mass later in life is a function of the bone accrued during the second decade and the amount of bone lost after menopause. Bone mass accrual during puberty depends more on sexual maturation than chronological age. Hence, the effects of sex steroids on the growing skeleton are relevant to the development of osteoporosis later in life. However, the stimulating effects of estrogens on bone growth during puberty are different from their effects on the maintenance of the mature skeleton and prevention of bone loss. To place the significance of the evidence we will cover later in the appropriate perspective, we will first discuss important distinctions between growing and nongrowing skeleton vis-a-vis estrogen action.
Gender is a major determinant of the size and shape of the skeleton, reflecting the need of the female pelvis to accommodate gestation and delivery of the offspring. Sexual skeletal dimorphism is most likely determined by genetic programs, which have yet to be elucidated. Nonetheless, estrogens or androgens may contribute to such dimorphism by actions exerted during fetal development (Couse and Korach, 1999). Evidence that short-term exposure to exogenous estrogen during fetal life affects bone growth and development in postnatal life suggests the existence of an imprinting mechanism that acts on bone cell programming early in skeletal development (Migliaccio et al., 1996). Sexual skeletal dimorphism is also influenced by the well-known effects of sex steroids on the initiation of the pubertal growth spurt and the closure of the epiphyses at the end of puberty (Frank, 2000; Parfitt, in press). The cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for these latter effects are also unknown. Linear skeletal growth is governed by the chondrocytes of the growth plate. Therefore, the effects of sex steroids on pubertal growth and epiphysial closure result from direct actions of these hormones on chondrocytes. Consistent with this contention, chondrocytes are direct targets for sex steroid action, as they express classical receptors for estrogens and androgens. Thus, the target cells of the effects of sex steroids on bone growth are different from the target cells of their effects on the maintenance of the mature skeleton.
True bone mineral density (i.e., the amount of mineral per volume of bone (gr/cm3)) does not appear to increase with size or age. The apparent changes in areal bone mineral density, the popular measurement performed with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) - the so-called bone mineral density (BMD) that is expressed in gr/cm2 - is a reflection of growth and an increase in size rather than an increase in bone mineral per unit volume. Hence, the purported changes of BMD during growth are predominantly due to changes on bone volume, not to changes in true bone density. As we reviewed recently elsewhere (Manolagas et al., in press), most of the 40- to 50-fold increase in bone mass from birth to maturity is the result of growth. During growth, bone mass and density may change in opposite directions. In contrast, in the mature skeleton, the change in bone size with time is trivial and mass and density always change in the same direction. Furthermore, the growing and nongrowing skeleton differ profoundly in the spatial and temporal organization of bone cell function. These differences were encapsulated several years ago by Frost in his definitions of modeling as a more-or-less continuous process of bone redistribution and remodeling as a relatively infrequent process of bone replacement (Frost, 1973; Parfitt, 1997). Very importantly, the changes in cortical bone surface location due to modeling can, in some bones, amount to more than 1 cm from birth to maturity or about 2 µm/day. By contrast, changes in cancellous bone surface location due to remodeling are expansion of about 2 µm/year during growth (Parfitt et al., 2000) and contraction of about 1 µm/year after age 50 (Parfitt, 2000). During cortical bone growth, large numbers of new cells are needed over an extended area every day for many years. In this situation, cell recruitment is not rate limiting and the lifespan of an individual cell is relatively unimportant. But, during adult cancellous bone remodeling, a 5-µm increase in the depth of a resorption cavity (about 10%), due to corresponding prolongation of osteoclast lifespan, or a 5-µm decrease in the thickness of new bone deposited, due to corresponding shortening of osteoblast lifespan, can have a large effect on the rate of bone loss, which in a few years may determine whether or not a vertebral fracture occurs.
Unfortunately, lack of appreciation of these facts - and, even more seriously, the incorrect use of BMD measurements by DEXA in growing children - has led to the mistaken conclusion that genetic disorders of the estrogen receptor (ER) or the aromatase gene (Smith et al., 1994; Carani et al., 1997; Bilezikian et al., 1998) cause osteoporosis. Lack of estrogen action in the growing skeleton prolongs the duration of growth, leading to increases in height and in long bone length (Simpson, 1998; Grumbach and Auchus, 1999). Hence, in contrast to osteoporosis, the longer (eunochoid) bones of these individuals suggest that, if anything, they accrued more bone than normal. Furthermore, the increased rate of remodeling in these subjects is due to the fact that they did not reach skeletal maturity. Indeed, increased rate of remodeling is physiologic and appropriate for the rapid growth and sculpting of bones during puberty. On the other hand, increased remodeling of the mature skeleton caused by loss of sex steroids - or, for this matter, other conditions - is always pathologic and inappropriate.
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II. Effects of Sex Steroids on Osteoclastogenesis: The IL-6 Paradigm Shift |
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TOPABSTRACTI. IntroductionII. Effects of Sex Steroids on...III. Effects of Sex Steroids on...IV. Effects of Sex Steroids on...V. Pharmocotherapeutic Implications of...ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSREFERENCES |
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and ERß) or androgens (AR) are present in chondrocytes, bone marrow stromal cells, osteoblasts, and osteoclasts and their progenitors (Eriksen et al., 1988; Komm et al., 1988; Benz et al., 1991a; Bellido et al., 1995; Couse and Korach, 1999), indicating that the effects of sex steroids on bone are mediated, at least in part, directly. The level of receptor expression in osteoblastic and osteoclastic cells is low (at least 10-fold), compared to reproductive sites of sex steroid action. The distribution of these receptors in bone cells does not vary by gender, as similar levels of ER and AR have been found in bone cells from males and females (Benz et al., 1991a,b; Braidman et al., 2000). However, in spite of the demonstration of receptors, convincing evidence that estrogens or androgens modulate the biosynthetic activity of osteoblasts and osteoclasts in a manner that can explain the well-documented skeletal effects of estrogen loss in vivo remained elusive until the critical role of the bone marrow in bone remodeling was appreciated about a decade ago (Scheven et al., 1986; Kurihara et al., 1989). Osteoclasts are derived from hematopoietic progenitors of the myeloid lineage, colony-forming unit-granulocyte/macrophage (CFU-GM) and CFU-M. Osteoblasts, as well as the hematopoiesis-supporting stromal cells and adipocytes of the bone marrow, are derived from mesenchymal stem cells. More important, the development of osteoclasts depends on a network of autocrine and paracrine factors produced by stromal and osteoblastic cells. With this knowledge in hand, we proposed the hypothesis that estrogens act to regulate the production of osteoclastogenic cytokines by bone marrow stromal cells and osteoblasts (Manolagas and Jilka, 1992).
Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a paradigm of a cytokine important for osteoclastogenesis (Manolagas et al., 1996). IL-6 is a member of a family of structurally related cytokines that use the gp130 signal transducer in their receptor complex. Besides IL-6, the family includes IL-11, oncostatin M (OSM), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), and cardiotropin 1. Binding of IL-6 to its specific cell surface receptor (gp80) causes recruitment and dimerization of gp130, which is then tyrosine phosphorylated by members of the JAK family of tyrosine kinases. This event results in tyrosine phosphorylation of several downstream signaling molecules, including members of the signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) family of transcription factors. Phosphorylated STATs, in turn, undergo homo- and hetero-dimerization and translocate to the nucleus, where they activate cytokine-responsive gene transcription. The gp80 subunit of the IL-6 receptor also exists in a soluble form (sIL-6R) but, unlike most soluble cytokine receptors, it functions as an agonist by binding to IL-6 and then interacting with membrane-associated gp130 to stimulate JAK/STAT signaling.
We found that both estrogens and androgens suppress the production of IL-6 as well as the expression of the two subunits of the IL-6 receptor, IL-6R and gp130, in cells of the bone marrow stromal/osteoblastic lineage (Girasole et al., 1992; Passeri et al., 1993; Manolagas et al., 1994; Bellido et al., 1995; Jilka et al., 1995; Manolagas and Jilka, 1995; Lin et al., 1997; Manolagas, 1998). Similar results were obtained subsequently by others in rats as well as in humans, in the bone marrow and in the peripheral blood (Manolagas, 2000a; Scheidt-Nave et al., 2001). Importantly, we and others showed that neutralization of IL-6 with antibodies or knockout of the IL-6 gene in mice prevents the upregulation of CFU-GM in the marrow, and the expected increase of osteoclast numbers in trabecular bone sections; and also protects the loss of bone following loss of sex steroids (Jilka et al., 1992; Poli et al., 1994; Bellido et al., 1995). In support of the pathogenetic role of IL-6 in the bone loss caused by loss of sex steroids, IL-6 seems to play a similar role in several other conditions associated with increased bone resorption, as evidenced by increased local or systemic production of IL-6 and the IL-6 receptor in patients with multiple myeloma, Paget’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Gorham-Stout or disappearing bone disease, hyperthyroidism, primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism, as well as McCune Albright syndrome (Papanicolaou et al., 1998; Manolagas, 2000a). Nonetheless, IL-6 does not seem to be required for osteoclastogenesis in vivo under normal physiologic conditions. In fact, osteoclast formation is unaffected in sex steroid-replete mice treated with a neutralizing anti-IL-6 antibody or in IL-6-deficient mice (Jilka et al., 1992; Poli et al., 1994). This situation probably reflects the fact that the expression of the gp80 subunit of the IL-6 receptor in bone is a limiting factor for the effects of the cytokine.
At the molecular level, we determined that the suppressive effects of estrogens or androgens on IL-6 production were mediated via the classical receptors and resulted from an indirect effect of the receptor protein on the transcriptional activity on the proximal 225-bp sequence of the human IL-6 gene promoter (Pottratz et al., 1994; Bellido et al., 1995). Moreover, whereas both androgens and estrogens could inhibit IL-6 transcription, their effects were strictly dependent on the expression of their respective receptor and could not be due to actions of androgens mediated by the ER, or vice versa (Figure 1). In support of these findings, others established that suppression of IL-6 production by estrogen, or selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) such as raloxifene, is due to protein-protein interaction between the ER and transcription factors such as nuclear factor kappa beta (NF-
ß) and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP) (McDonnell and Norris, 1997).
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The paradigm of IL-6 as a target gene for sex steroid action in bone - and, in particular, the suppressive effects of these hormones on osteoclastogenesis - has been since extended to include tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) (Srivastava et al., 1998,1999). In addition, there has been evidence that estrogens stimulate the production of osteoprotegerin (OPG), a potent anti-osteoclastogenic factor. OPG acts as a decoy, blocking the binding of the receptor activator of NF-ß (RANK), expressed in osteoclast progenitors, to RANK-ligand (RANKL) which is expressed in committed pre-osteoblastic cells (Hofbauer et al., 1999). The high-affinity binding of RANKL to RANK is evidently essential and, together with M-CSF, sufficient for osteoclastogenesis. IL-6, IL-11, IL-1, and TNF as well as parathyroid hormone (PTH) and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 seem to exert at least part of their osteoclastogenic effects by stimulating the expression of RANKL. PTH and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 also inhibit the production of OPG (Hofbauer et al., 2000). IL-6 and IL-11 may influence osteoclastogenesis by stimulating the self-renewal and inhibiting the apoptosis of osteoclast progenitors (Girasole et al., 1994; Jilka, 1998). Estrogen loss also may increase the sensitivity of osteoclasts to IL-1 by increasing the ratio of the IL-1RI over the IL-1 decoy receptor (IL-RII) (Sunyer et al., 1999) or increasing the number of TNF-synthesizing lymphocytes (Cenci et al., 2000). As in the case of IL-6, the effects of estrogen on TNF and M-CSF are mediated via protein-protein interactions between the ER and other transcription factors (Table I). Because of the interdependent nature of the production of IL-1, IL-6, and TNF, a significant increase in one of them may amplify, in a cascade fashion, the effect of the others (Jilka, 1998).
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III. Effects of Sex Steroids on Osteoblastogenesis |
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TOPABSTRACTI. IntroductionII. Effects of Sex Steroids on...III. Effects of Sex Steroids on...IV. Effects of Sex Steroids on...V. Pharmocotherapeutic Implications of...ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSREFERENCES |
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The defining property of stem cell progenitors in regenerating tissues is their ability to self-renew (Loeffler and Potten, 1997). Indeed, such progenitors may divide to produce two identical daughter cells (self-renewal with amplification), or one identical daughter cell and one cell with more differentiated characteristics (self-renewal without amplification), or two cells with a more differentiated phenotype. The decision to self-renew or to differentiate may be stochastic or may be governed by factors in the local microenvironment. Rapid increases in executive cell production can thus be achieved by stimulating the self-renewal of early transit amplifying progenitors. Based on this understanding and our earlier results showing that loss of estrogens upregulates the production of CFU-OB, we examined the mechanism by which estrogen may regulate CFU-OB production. We found that most CFU-OB are dividing early transit amplifying cells and that 17ß-estradiol suppresses their self-renewal via the form of the estrogen receptor (Di Gregiorio et al., 2001) (Figure 2). A similar inhibitory effect of estrogens has been demonstrated in self-renewing progenitors that give rise to cells of the inner root sheath and the mature hair fiber (Chanda et al., 2000). Although not shown directly, it is very likely that a similar mechanism might be operating in the actions of estrogen on the closure of the growth plate at the end of puberty, as estrogens have been shown to inhibit prehypertrophic chondroblast proliferation (Tajima et al., 1998). Unpublished studies of ours show that the inhibitory effect of estrogen on CFU-OB self-renewal may be critical for their bone-protective effects. Thus, the mouse model of osteopenia displays blunted osteoblastogenic and osteoclastogenic response, blunted bone loss following loss of estrogens, as well as low CFU-OB self-renewal, compared to control mice (DiGregorio-Taguchi et al., 2001).
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IV. Effects of Sex Steroids on Osteoblast and Osteocyte Apoptosis |
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TOPABSTRACTI. IntroductionII. Effects of Sex Steroids on...III. Effects of Sex Steroids on...IV. Effects of Sex Steroids on...V. Pharmocotherapeutic Implications of...ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSREFERENCES |
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Following loss of sex steroids, osteoclasts erode deeper than normal cavities, leading to the removal of entire cancellous elements and loss of connection between the remaining ones (Parfitt et al., 1996; Eriksen et al., 1999). This phenomenon is most likely due to the removal of pro-apoptotic effects of estrogens on osteoclasts (Hughes et al., 1996). Based on our studies indicating that the majority of osteoblasts die by apoptosis (Jilka et al., 1998b), we have turned our attention to the effects of estrogens as well as androgens on osteoblast and osteocyte apoptosis.
We have found that ovariectomy or orchidectomy causes a dramatic increase in the prevalence of osteoblast and osteocyte apoptosis in mice. Addition of estrogens or androgens suppresses osteoblast and osteocyte apoptosis induced by a variety of pro-apoptotic stimuli in vitro (Kousteni et al., 2001) (Figure 3). We undertook an extensive effort to investigate the molecular mechanism of these anti-apoptotic effects, using primary cultures of murine osteoblastic cells as well as an osteocytic cell line, mouse embryonic fibroblasts, and HeLa cells. We determined that both estrogens and androgens increase the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) in osteoblasts and osteocytes, with a peak at 5 minutes and return to baseline by 15 minutes (Kousteni et al., 2001). ERKs are one of the three subfamilies of MAPK. The other two subfamilies are the jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs), also called stress-activated protein kinases (SAPK), and the p38 kinases. MAPKs are serine/threonine kinases that transduce chemical and physical signals from the cell surface to the nucleus, thereby controlling proliferation, differentiation, and survival (Chang and Karin, 2001). The transduction of the signal from the cell surface to the MAPKs begins with phosphorylation and recruitment of accessory proteins such as Ras, son of sevenless (SOS), Src, or Shc (Figure 4). This event is followed by a three-step cascade leading to MAPK activation by two intermediate kinases: a MAPK kinase (e.g., MAPKK, MKK, or MEK) and a MAPKK kinase or MEK kinase (e.g., MAPKKK or MEKK). Activation of ERKs has been associated with cell survival in a variety of cell types and can result in phosphorylation - and thereby inactivation - of the pro-apoptotic protein Bad, a member of the Bcl-2 family of proteins that controls release of caspase-activating factors from the mitochondria. Pro-apoptotic members of this family form heterodimers with anti-apoptotic members like Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL (Chao and Korsmeyer, 1998). Phosphorylation and inactivation of Bad frees Bcl-2 to form homodimers that prevent the release of caspase activators.
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or ERß) or the androgen receptor (AR) and require the activation of a Src/Shc/ERK signaling cascade. This effect is absent in cells deficient in Src or in cells overexpressing a kinase-deficient Src mutant. Further, the anti-apoptotic effect of either class of sex steroids can be abrogated with Src mutants lacking the SH2 and SH3 domains or with Shc mutants in which the primary sites of phosphorylation by Src kinases are substituted by alanine.
Using the ER as a paradigm, we also found that activation of the Src/Shc/ERK pathway by estrogens or androgens is nongenotropic and mediated via a region of the classical ER that is distinct from the one responsible for the genotropic actions of the ligand-activated protein (Kousteni et al., 2001). Indeed, this effect requires only the ligand-binding domain. Furthermore, targeting this domain to the plasma membrane reproduces fully the ERK-mediated anti-apoptotic function of the full-length ER. In contrast, targeting this domain exclusively to the cell nucleus results in complete loss of its anti-apoptotic activity. The Src kinase physically associates with the ER or AR proteins (Migliaccio et al., 2000). As in the case of the Src/Shc/ERK pathway, estrogens can activate the PI3 kinase (PI3K). Activation of PI3K results from direct interaction of the ER with the p85 regulatory subunit of the PI3K and is independent of the transcriptional activity of the receptor (Simoncini et al., 2000).
Several members of the MAPK signaling pathway, including Src, Shc and ERKs, are clustered in caveolae - specialized membrane invaginations that are enriched in the scaffolding protein caveolin-1 and compartmentalize signal transduction (Okamoto et al., 1998). Caveolae are found in a variety of cell types, including neuronal, endothelial, and osteoblastic cells (Toran-Allerand et al., 1999; Solomon et al., 2000). ER co-immunoprecipitates with caveolin-1 (Schlegel et al., 1999). Furthermore, a subpopulation of ER has been co-localized in caveolae with both caveolin and endogenous nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in human endothelial cells (Chambliss et al., 2000). These lines of evidence, taken together with the finding that the anti-apoptotic signal of the ligand-binding domain of the ER is preserved when targeting this protein to the membrane but is lost when targeting it to the nucleus, suggest strongly that nongenotropic activation of signaling pathways by sex steroids is mediated via the classical receptors, or perhaps a shortened spliced variant that is localized in the membrane and, in particular, within caveolae. In support of this notion, both ER and ERß can be detected in the cell membrane. The membrane receptors appear to be derived from the same transcripts as the nuclear ones (Razandi et al., 1999). A membrane-impermeable form of estrogen rapidly activates the p38 MAPK and protects endothelial cells from hypoxia-induced apoptosis (Razandi et al., 1999,2000). Membrane-impermeable forms of estrogen or testosterone activate ERKs in osteoblasts and osteocytes and protect them from apoptosis (Manolagas, 2000a).
In contrast to reproductive tissues where development, growth, maintenance, and function depend on estrogens in females and androgens in males, in nonreproductive tissues like bone and the cardiovascular and central nervous systems, this specificity is greatly relaxed (Manolagas and Kousteni, 2001). For example, closure of the epiphyses of long bones is estrogen dependent in both sexes (Grumbach and Auchus, 1999; Frank, 2000). On the other hand, estrogens or nonaromatizable androgens prevent osteoblast and promote osteoclast apoptosis or activate eNOS in endothelial cells in vitro, irrespective of the gender of the cell donor (Chen et al., 2001) (P. Shaul, personal communication). Furthermore, estrogens restore bone mass in males with aromatase deficiency (Bilezikian et al., 1998), while nonaromatizable androgens can protect the female skeleton against the adverse effects of estrogen deficiency (Tobias et al., 1994; Coxam et al., 1996). Some of these paradoxical effects may be explained by the fact that the distribution of the receptors for sex steroids does not vary by gender. In other words, similar levels of ER and AR have been found in bone, endothelial, and neuronal cells from males and females. Hence, estrogens could very well exert some of their effects in males through ERs residing in male cells and vice versa for androgens.
We have determined that the nongenotropic Src/Shc/ERK-mediated anti-apoptotic effect of estrogens or androgens on osteoblasts and osteocytes is transmitted by the ER, ERß, or the AR with similar efficiency, irrespective of whether the ligand is an estrogen or an androgen (Kousteni et al., 2001). Gender-independent signaling through the ERs or ARs may be operating in the neuroprotective effects of estrogen in males and androgen in females (Roof and Hall, 2000). A great deal more research will be required to establish the significance of the phenomenon in vivo. But it is theoretically plausible that it may provide an additional mechanistic basis for the relaxed gender specificity of the effects described above (Gee and Katzenellenbogen, 2001; Kousteni et al., 2001).
One of the most striking and unexpected results of the elucidation of the nongenotropic regulation of kinases by the classical sex steroid receptors was the discovery that ERK activation - and the resulting prevention of apoptosis - can be dissociated from the transcriptional activity of the nuclear receptors with synthetic ligands (Kousteni et al., 2001). Indeed, by comparing the effects of various ligands on the transcription of the Complement 3 gene, which contains an ERE in its promoter and is regulated by estrogen in a classical manner (or on the transcriptional activation of an ERE-driven promoter or the IL-6 promoter), with their anti-apoptotic effect on primary calvaria cells, we have demonstrated that an estren, with no transcriptional activity, exhibits potent anti-apoptotic efficacy. On the other hand, a pyrazole with potent transcriptional activity has minimal anti-apoptotic efficacy. The relative anti-apoptotic potency of these two compounds correlates with their ability to induce ERK phosphorylation.
Extension of the working life of the bone-resorbing cells and simultaneous shortening of the working life of the bone-forming cells can explain the imbalance between bone resorption and formation that ensues following loss of sex steroids. In agreement with our findings, others have demonstrated an increase in osteocyte apoptosis following loss of estrogen in rats as well as in humans (Tomkinson et al., 1997,1998). The increase in osteocyte apoptosis could further weaken the skeleton by impairment of the osteocyte-canalicular mechanosensory network. The increase in bone remodeling that occurs with estrogen deficiency would partly replace some of the nonviable osteocytes in cancellous bone. However, cortical apoptotic osteocytes might accumulate because of their anatomic isolation from scavenger cells and the need for extensive degradation to small molecules to dispose of the osteocytes through the narrow canaliculi. Hence, the accumulation of apoptotic osteocytes caused by loss of estrogen could increase bone fragility even before significant loss of bone mass because of the impaired detection of microdamage and repair of substandard bone.
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V. Pharmocotherapeutic Implications of the Anti-apoptotic Effects of Sex Steroids: the ANGELS Concept |
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TOPABSTRACTI. IntroductionII. Effects of Sex Steroids on...III. Effects of Sex Steroids on...IV. Effects of Sex Steroids on...V. Pharmocotherapeutic Implications of...ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSREFERENCES |
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Specifically, we have found that in rodents as well as in humans increased apoptosis of osteoblast and osteocytes is a key pathogenetic mechanism of the adverse effects of glucocorticoid excess on bone (Weinstein et al., 1998; Manolagas and Weinstein, 1999). Osteocyte apoptosis also might be the cause of the so-called osteonecrosis of the hip (Weinstein et al., 2000). Moreover, osteocyte apoptosis might explain the results of a large epidemiological study showing a rapid onset of fracture incidence following the initiation of glucocorticosteroid treatment and, most unexpectedly, a rapid offset of the incidence of fractures following discontinuation of steroid treatment (Manolagas, 2000b).
It has long been known that intermittent administration of PTH exerts an anabolic effect on the skeleton, which is opposite from the better-known catabolic effect of chronic elevation of PTH in primary hyperparathyroidism. To address the mechanism of this anabolic effect, we examined the effect of daily PTH injections in mice over a 1-month period (Jilka et al., 1999). We found a dramatic increase in the number of osteoblasts, bone formation rate, and BMD. All these changes could be accounted for by a dramatic decrease in the prevalence of osteoblast apoptosis, not by increasing the generation of new osteoblasts or the proliferation of existing ones. Importantly, in other species, including humans, the increased bone formation caused by daily PTH injections is also associated with increased osteoblast numbers without change in osteoblast proliferation. The only other agent known to increase bone mass by rebuilding bone, prostaglandin E, also increases the lifespan of mature osteoblasts by reducing the prevalence of their apoptosis (Machwate et al., 1998). Our findings provided for the first time proof of principle of the concept that increased work performed by a cell population by suppressing apoptosis can augment bone mass. They also offered a rational explanation for the efficacy of daily PTH injections in various forms of osteoporosis, including the one induced by glucorticoid excess (Manolagas et al., 1998).
All currently approved drugs for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis - estrogens, bisphosphonates, the SERM raloxifene (McDonnell, 1999), and calcitonin - are "anti-resorptive" agents. The first two stimulate osteoclast apoptosis. Through their pro-apoptotic mechanism of action alone (as in the case of bisphosphonates) or together with the ability to decrease the development of osteoclast progenitors (estrogens and SERMS) or the recruitment and function of osteoclasts (calcitonin), all these agents slow the rate of bone remodeling (Manolagas, 2000a). In most instances, this is sufficient for preventing or slowing the rate of bone loss that is due to the decrease of estrogens after the menopause.
We have demonstrated that like sex steroids, bisphosphonates and calcitonin attenuate osteoblast and osteocyte apoptosis in vitro and in vivo (Plotkin et al., 1999). In the case of bisphosphonates, attenuation of apoptosis is mediated via ERK activation. The anti-apoptotic effect of these two drugs on osteocyte apoptosis provides a potential explanation for their disproportional effects on BMD and antifracture efficacy. Hence, estrogens, PTH, and bisphosphonates exert their anti-apoptotic effects on osteoblasts/osteocytes by stimulating signaling pathways at sites upstream from the common executioners of the apoptosis program (Figure 5). As discussed above, the effect of estrogens (and androgens for this matter) is mediated by a novel paradigm of sex steroid action that requires only the ligand-binding domain of the receptor, extranuclear localization of the protein, and sex nonspecificity (Kousteni et al., 2001). Importantly, the effect of bisphosphonates is exerted via connexin43 hemichannels - a novel gap junction - independent action of connexin (Plotkin et al., 2001). PTH, on the other hand, inhibits apoptosis via cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent activation of several survival pathways mediated by protein kinase A (Bellido et al., 2001). Taken together, these discoveries and the demonstration of the principle that increased work output of a cell population by suppressing apoptosis can augment tissue mass, are pointing to an entirely new approach for the treatment of osteoporosis: one that could lead to cure rather than prevention or slowing of the disease process. The results of a recent clinical trial with daily injections of PTH for 18 months support strongly this contention by showing that the anabolic property of PTH restores BMD in the normal range and prevents bone fractures to levels much greater than those seen with antiresorptive agents (Neer et al., 2001).
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Since daily PTH administration or prostaglandins increase bone mass by preventing osteoblast apoptosis without slowing remodeling, we have reasoned that ER ligands with anti-apoptotic but not antiresorptive/antiremodeling properties will expand the pool of mature osteoblasts at sites of new bone formation and allow these cells more time to make bone, to a much greater degree than the antiresorptive agents that also slow remodeling (Manolagas, 2000a). Based on our findings that the nongenotropic activity of the ER can be dissociated from its transcriptional activity with synthetic ligands (Kousteni et al., 2001), we have coined the acronym ANGELS for ER ligands that function as "activators of nongenotropic estrogen-like signaling." These ligands lack, completely or partially, the ability to induce the transcriptional activity of the ER. Several reasons made us suspect that this class of compounds may be a more rational and advantageous approach to the classical hormone replacement therapy or even SERMS, during postreproductive life. First, nonreproductive tissues express lower levels of receptors, compared to reproductive tissues (10- to 50-fold), which may be sufficient for accommodating nongenotropic actions of sex steroids but is insufficient for genotropic actions (Manolagas and Kousteni, 2001). Second, nonreproductive tissues exhibit a lack of variation of the levels of the ERs or ARs in cells from males versus females, which may account, at least in part, for the relaxed gender specificity in the responsiveness of females and males to estrogens or androgens. Hence, nonreproductive tissues might be ideal targets for gender-neutral ligands. Third, and most important, unlike reproductive tissues in which the majority of estrogenic effects are mediated via transcriptional activation, in nonreproductive tissues, the predominant mechanism of ER action is seemingly nongenotropic. In support of these ideas, we have now obtained evidence that synthetic ligands with potent anti-apoptotic but no genotropic activity increase BMD and bone strength significantly more than estrogens, in estrogen-deficient mice, without affecting the breast or the uterus. Future studies will, of course, be required to establish the validity of the ANGELS concept on nonreproductive tissues other than bone. But, if nongenotropic effects of estrogen are as important in other nonreproductive tissues as the evidence suggests, we are optimistic that ANGELS may also retain at least some of the beneficial effects of estrogens on the vasomotor, cardiovascular system, and CNS.
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TOPABSTRACTI. IntroductionII. Effects of Sex Steroids on...III. Effects of Sex Steroids on...IV. Effects of Sex Steroids on...V. Pharmocotherapeutic Implications of...ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSREFERENCES |
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TOPABSTRACTI. IntroductionII. Effects of Sex Steroids on...III. Effects of Sex Steroids on...IV. Effects of Sex Steroids on...V. Pharmocotherapeutic Implications of...ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSREFERENCES |
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1(I)-procollagen and transforming growth factor-ß steady state messenger ribonucleic acid levels in human osteoblast-like osteosarcoma cells.
Endocrinology
128:
2723–2730-dihydrotestosterone partially restores cancellous bone volume in osteopenic ovariectomized rats.
Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab
267:
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