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Roles of Wnt signals in bone resorption during physiological and pathological states

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Abstract

Osteoclasts, multinucleated giant cells, are responsible for bone resorption in physiological and pathological conditions such as osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoclasts develop from the monocyte/macrophage lineage under the strict control of bone-forming osteoblasts. Osteoblast-lineage cells express two cytokines essential for osteoclast differentiation, colony-stimulating factor-1, and receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL) and also express osteoprotegerin, a soluble decoy receptor for RANKL. The signaling molecule Wnt has been shown to be important for the differentiation of osteoblasts through β-catenin-dependent canonical and β-catenin-independent noncanonical pathways. Recent studies have established that Wnt-mediated signals are also crucial for bone resorption in both physiological and pathological conditions. In this review, we introduce recent advances in roles of Wnt signaling in bone formation and bone resorption.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [23791668 (KM), 22390351 (NT) and 23659972 (YK)] from the Ministry of Education, Cultures, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.

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All authors state that they have no conflicts of interest.

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  1. Institute for Oral Science, Matsumoto Dental University, 1780 Gobara, Hiro-oka, Shiojiri, Nagano, 399-0781, Japan

    Kazuhiro Maeda, Naoyuki Takahashi & Yasuhiro Kobayashi

  2. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The Jikei University School of Medicine, 3-25-8 Nishi-Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-8461, Japan

    Kazuhiro Maeda

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  1. Kazuhiro Maeda
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Correspondence to Yasuhiro Kobayashi.

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Maeda, K., Takahashi, N. & Kobayashi, Y. Roles of Wnt signals in bone resorption during physiological and pathological states. J Mol Med 91, 15–23 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00109-012-0974-0

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