Laboratory for Bone Metabolism, Key Laboratory for Space Biosciences and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China.
School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Jan 25;19(2):360. doi: 10.3390/ijms19020360.
Osteoporosis is a progressive skeletal disease characterized by decreased bone mass and degraded bone microstructure, which leads to increased bone fragility and risks of bone fracture. Osteoporosis is generally age related and has become a major disease of the world. Uncovering the molecular mechanisms underlying osteoporosis and developing effective prevention and therapy methods has great significance for human health. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent cells capable of differentiating into osteoblasts, adipocytes, or chondrocytes, and have become the favorite source of cell-based therapy. Evidence shows that during osteoporosis, a shift of the cell differentiation of MSCs to adipocytes rather than osteoblasts partly contributes to osteoporosis. Thus, uncovering the molecular mechanisms of the osteoblast or adipocyte differentiation of MSCs will provide more understanding of MSCs and perhaps new methods of osteoporosis treatment. The MSCs have been applied to both preclinical and clinical studies in osteoporosis treatment. Here, we review the recent advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms regulating osteoblast differentiation and adipocyte differentiation of MSCs and highlight the therapeutic application studies of MSCs in osteoporosis treatment. This will provide researchers with new insights into the development and treatment of osteoporosis.
骨质疏松症是一种以骨量减少和骨微观结构退化为特征的进行性骨骼疾病，导致骨脆性增加和骨折风险增加。骨质疏松症通常与年龄有关，已成为全球的主要疾病之一。揭示骨质疏松症的分子机制，并开发有效的预防和治疗方法，对人类健康具有重要意义。间充质干细胞（MSCs）是一种多能细胞，能够分化为成骨细胞、脂肪细胞或软骨细胞，已成为基于细胞治疗的首选来源。有证据表明，在骨质疏松症中，MSCs 的细胞分化向脂肪细胞而不是成骨细胞的转变在一定程度上导致了骨质疏松症。因此，揭示 MSCs 成骨细胞或脂肪细胞分化的分子机制将为更好地了解 MSCs 提供更多的信息，并可能为骨质疏松症的治疗提供新的方法。MSCs 已被应用于骨质疏松症治疗的临床前和临床研究。在这里，我们综述了近年来对调节 MSCs 成骨细胞分化和脂肪细胞分化的分子机制的理解进展，并强调了 MSCs 在骨质疏松症治疗中的治疗应用研究。这将为研究人员提供新的视角，以开发和治疗骨质疏松症。
