| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Regulatory mechanisms of SOST expression, which is a secreted protein from osteocytes and suppresses bone formation, still remain unclear. We focused on "RANKL reverse signaling" based on RANKL function as a receptor for RANK. At first, we established optimized in vitro assay methods for evaluating osteocyte functions. During 3-dimensional culture composed of type-I collagen and matrigel, osteocytes kept the characteristic features of gene expression and its cell shape over 7 days. Using this novel culture conditions, we examined the effect of RANKL reverse signaling on SOST expression in osteocytes. As a result, activating RANKL reverse signaling resulted in the significant elevation of SOST expression, as well as the ratio of RANKL to OPG expression. Moreover, these effects were also confirmed in mouse in vivo model. Consequently, RANKL reverse signaling in osteocytes may contribute to the efficient bone coupling between bone resorption and formation.
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