title: Implication of receptor activator of NF-κB ligand in Wnt/β-catenin pathway promoting osteoblast-like cell differentiation.
abstract: Recent studies showed that activation of Wnt/β-catenin pathway promoted the differentiation of osteoblast-like cells in the arterial calcification, but its mechanism remains unknown. In this study, the hypothesis that Wnt/β-catenin pathway promotes the differentiation of osteoblast-like cells by upregulating the expression of receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) was examined. LiCl was used to activate the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. The differentiation of osteoblast-like cells was observed by Von Kossa staining, calcium content assay, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity assay, and detection of osteocalcin expression. Real-time PCR was performed to detect the expression of RANKL and osteoprotegerin (OPG, the decoy receptor of RANKL) during the osteoblast-like cell differentiation. Different concentrations of OPG were added to the culture media respectively to inhibit the function of RANKL, and the change in the differentiation of osteoblast-like cells was evaluated. The results showed that when the Wnt/β-catenin pathway was activated by LiCl, the expression of RANKL was significantly increased, which coincided with the differentiation of osteoblast-like cells (P<0.05), and the OPG treatment could partly attenuate the promoting effect of Wnt/β-catenin pathway on the differentiation of osteoblast-like cells (P<0.05), but it failed to completely abolish such effect. It was concluded that activation of Wnt/β-catenin pathway promotes the differentiation of osteoblast-like cells by both RANKL-dependent and RANKL-independent mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Shaoqiong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China. smguan16@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Siming
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D010012:Osteogenesis / Q000187:drug effects; D053245:RANK Ligand / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D060449:Wnt Signaling Pathway / Q000187:drug effects*; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D053245:RANK Ligand; D051176:beta Catenin