TY - JOUR
T1 - mTORC1 impedes osteoclast differentiation via calcineurin and NFATc1
AU - Huynh, Hoang Dinh
AU - Wan, Yihong
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Drs. Paul Dechow and Jerry Feng (Baylor College of Dentistry) for assistance with histomorphometry; Dr. Sean Morrison (UT Southwestern Medical Center) for assistance with μCT. Y.W. is Lawrence Raisz Professor in Bone Cell Metabolism and a Virginia Murchison Linthicum Scholar in Medical Research. This work was in part supported by NIH (R01DK089113, Y.W.), CPRIT (RP130145, Y.W.), DOD (W81XWH-13-1-0318, Y.W.), The Welch Foundation (I-1751, Y.W.), March of Dimes (#6-FY13-137, Y.W.) and UTSW Endowed Scholar Startup Fund (Y.W.).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Rapamycins are immunosuppressant and anti-cancer drugs that inhibit the kinase mTOR. Clinically, they often cause bone pain, bone necrosis, and high bone turnover, yet the mechanisms are unclear. Here we show that mTORC1 activity is high in osteoclast precursors but downregulated upon RANKL treatment. Loss-of-function genetic models reveal that while early Raptor deletion in hematopoietic stem cells blunts osteoclastogenesis due to compromised proliferation/survival, late Raptor deletion in osteoclast precursors instead augments osteoclastogenesis. Gain-of-function genetic models by TSC1 deletion in HSCs or osteoclast precursors cause constitutive mTORC1 activation, impairing osteoclastogenesis. Pharmacologically, rapamycin treatment at low but clinically relevant doses exacerbates osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption, leading to bone loss. Mechanistically, RANKL inactivates mTORC1 via calcineurin-mediated mTORC1 dephosphorylation, consequently activating NFATc1 by reducing mTORC1-mediated NFATc1 phosphorylation. These findings uncover biphasic roles of mTORC1 in osteoclastogenesis, dosage-dependent effects of rapamycin on bone, and a previously unrecognized calcineurin–mTORC1–NFATc1 phosphorylation-regulatory signaling cascade.
AB - Rapamycins are immunosuppressant and anti-cancer drugs that inhibit the kinase mTOR. Clinically, they often cause bone pain, bone necrosis, and high bone turnover, yet the mechanisms are unclear. Here we show that mTORC1 activity is high in osteoclast precursors but downregulated upon RANKL treatment. Loss-of-function genetic models reveal that while early Raptor deletion in hematopoietic stem cells blunts osteoclastogenesis due to compromised proliferation/survival, late Raptor deletion in osteoclast precursors instead augments osteoclastogenesis. Gain-of-function genetic models by TSC1 deletion in HSCs or osteoclast precursors cause constitutive mTORC1 activation, impairing osteoclastogenesis. Pharmacologically, rapamycin treatment at low but clinically relevant doses exacerbates osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption, leading to bone loss. Mechanistically, RANKL inactivates mTORC1 via calcineurin-mediated mTORC1 dephosphorylation, consequently activating NFATc1 by reducing mTORC1-mediated NFATc1 phosphorylation. These findings uncover biphasic roles of mTORC1 in osteoclastogenesis, dosage-dependent effects of rapamycin on bone, and a previously unrecognized calcineurin–mTORC1–NFATc1 phosphorylation-regulatory signaling cascade.
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U2 - 10.1038/s42003-018-0028-4
DO - 10.1038/s42003-018-0028-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 30271915
AN - SCOPUS:85059576942
VL - 1
JO - Communications Biology
JF - Communications Biology
SN - 2399-3642
IS - 1
M1 - 29
ER -