Osteoclast biology: lessons from mammalian mutations.

Major contributions to and confirmations of osteoclast biology have been made by experimental investigations of the osteopetrotic mutations in mammals. Congenital osteopetrosis is a bone disease characterized by a generalized increase in skeletal mass due to decreased osteoclast function. Abnormalities of skeletal growth and the failures of marrow cavity development and tooth eruption are secondary to reduced bone resorption of heterogeneous cause. Elucidation of pathogenetic pathways and unraveling of the cell biology of the osteoclast have proceeded hand-in-hand. This is illustrated by the variable differentiation and activation of osteoclasts among mutations and by demonstrations that the disease in certain animals and children can be cured by providing competent stem cells for osteoclasts via bone marrow transplantation. Congenital absence of carbonic anhydrase II (CA II) in children results in a syndrome that included osteopetrosis because osteoclasts are unable to function in the absence of CA II. The resistance of all mutations to the hypercalcemic effects of parathyroid hormone and recent reports of elevated blood levels of 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D have broadened the scope of pathogenetic possibilities for osteopetrosis and regulatory possibilities for osteoclasts. Immunological effects including reductions in natural killer cell activity, superoxide and interleukin-2 production make osteopetrotic mutants potential models for studying the role of the immune system in osteoclast biology. Furthermore, coexistence of osteopetrosis with rickets and osteoblast abnormalities and the failure of cell transplants to cure the disease in some mutations illustrate the utility of the osteopetroses for exploring the role of matrix as mentor in osteoclast biology. Thus, understanding congenital osteopetrosis and osteoclast biology are likely to continue together.