Bone Abstracts

Osteoclasts are highly specialized cell types, responsible for the resorption of bone matrix. Coordinated with osteoblasts they contribute to a proper bone turnover. An impaired or reduced function of the osteoclast leads to a pathogenic increase of the bone mass and finally osteopetrosis. Lysosomal hydrolases, as exemplied by CTSK and Acp5 (TRAP), are known to play an important role in the function of osteoclasts, and knockout mouse models of these proteins develop a bone res...

RANKL induced osteoclastogenesis is mediated by several transcription factors such as NF-κB, AP-1 and Nfatc1. We have found that also cysteine proteinases are involved in the signaling pathway downstream RANK. Thus, cystatin C, Z-RLVG-CHN2 (the sequence of which is based upon one of the enzyme inhibitory domains in cystatin C) and the fungal molecule E-64 – inhibit RANKL induced mouse and human osteoclast formation in vitro (Strålberg et ...