Int J Biol Sci 2022; 18(13):4837-4852. doi:10.7150/ijbs.71411 This issue Cite
Research Paper
1. Lab for Bone Metabolism, Xi'an Key Laboratory of Special Medicine and Health Engineering; Key Lab for Space Biosciences and Biotechnology, Research Center for Special Medicine and Health Systems Engineering, NPU-UAB Joint Laboratory for Bone Metabolism, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710072, China.
2. Department of Spine Surgery, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Southern University of Science and Technology, Jinan University School of Medicine, Shenzhen, 518020, China.
3. Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, and Institute of Molecular Genetics, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710049, China.
4. Law Sau Fai Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone and Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, SAR, 999077, China.
5. Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710032, China.
#Co-first authors.
Senile osteoporosis is one of the major health problems in an aging society. Decreased bone formation due to osteoblast dysfunction may be one of the causes of aging-related bone loss. With increasing evidence suggesting that multiple microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in osteoblast function, the relationship between miRNAs and senile osteoporosis has become a popular research topic. Previously, we confirmed that mechanoresponsive miR-138-5p negatively regulated bone anabolic action. In this study, the miR-138-5p level was found to be negatively correlated with BMD and osteogenic markers in bone specimens of senile osteoporotic patients by bioinformatic analysis and experimental verification. Furthermore, high miR-138-5p levels aggravated the decrease of aged osteoblast differentiation in vitro and led to worse bone loss in aged osteoblastic miR-138-5p transgenic mice in vivo. We also previously identified that the target of miR-138-5p, microtubule actin cross-linking factor 1 (MACF1), could attenuate senile osteoporosis. Here, miR-138-5p was demonstrated to regulate aged osteoblast differentiation by targeting MACF1. Finally, the therapeutic inhibition of miR-138-5p counteracted the decrease in bone formation and aging-related bone loss in aged mice. Overall, our results highlight the crucial roles and the molecular mechanism of miR-138-5p in aging-related bone loss and may provide a powerful therapeutic target for ameliorating senile osteoporosis.
Keywords: senile osteoporosis, miR-138-5p, MACF1, osteoblast differentiation, aging-related bone loss