Published online before print June 18, 2007
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||



* Research Unit, La Paz Hospital, and
|| Department of Medicine, La Paz Hospital Medical School, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain;
Discovery Unit, EMPIREO S.L., Madrid, Spain;
Instituto Madrileño de Oncología, Madrid, Spain; and
Cardiovascular Research Center, ICCC-CSIC, Sant Antoni Ma. Claret 167, Barcelona, Spain
2 Correspondence: Research Unit, La Paz Hospital, Madrid 28046, Spain. E-mail: elopezc.hulp{at}salud.madrid.org
Osteoclasts are large, multinucleated cells, which originate from the fusion of macrophages. They play a central role in bone development and remodeling via the resorption of bone and are thus important mediators of bone loss, which leads to osteoporosis. IL-1R-associated kinase (IRAK)-M is a pseudokinase, which acts as a negative modulator of innate immune responses mediated by TLRs and IL-1R. Recently, it has been reported that IRAK-M also participates in the control of macrophage differentiation into osteoclasts. In addition, it was shown that IRAK-M knockout mice develop a strong osteoporosis phenotype, suggesting that down-regulation of this molecule activates osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. We studied the effect of the osteoporosis-inducing glucocorticoid, 6-methylprednisolone (6-MP), on IRAK-M expression in osteoclasts. Our results showed that osteoclasts, derived from THP-1 and RAW cells as well as human blood monocytes, differentiated into osteoclasts, express high levels of IRAK-M at mRNA and protein levels. In addition, 6-MP down-regulates IRAK-M expression, which correlates with an increased activation of bone resorption. These findings suggest a mechanism of corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis and open new avenues for treating this endemic disease of Western societies.
Key Words: glucocorticoids TLR IL-1R
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
I. M. E. Beck, W. Vanden Berghe, L. Vermeulen, K. R. Yamamoto, G. Haegeman, and K. De Bosscher Crosstalk in Inflammation: The Interplay of Glucocorticoid Receptor-Based Mechanisms and Kinases and Phosphatases Endocr. Rev., December 1, 2009; 30(7): 830 - 882. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
V. Zacharioudaki, A. Androulidaki, A. Arranz, G. Vrentzos, A. N. Margioris, and C. Tsatsanis Adiponectin Promotes Endotoxin Tolerance in Macrophages by Inducing IRAK-M Expression J. Immunol., May 15, 2009; 182(10): 6444 - 6451. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||