2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Effect of transcriptional factor Alx3 during osteoblast differentiation

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24890240
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Prosthetic dentistry
Research Institution	Showa University
Principal Investigator	MATSUMOTO TAKASHI 昭和大学, 歯学部, 助教 (00635039)
Project Period (FY)	2012-08-31 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	BMP / Alx3 / 骨芽細胞
Research Abstract	In the present study, we focused on the mechanisms of Alx3 gene expression and function during osteoblast differentiation induced by BMP-2. In C2C12 cells, BMP-2 induced increase of Alx3 gene expression in both time- and dose-dependent manners through the SMAD signaling pathway. In addition, silencing of Alx3 by siRNA inhibited osteoblast differentiation induced by BMP-2, as showed by the expressions of alkaline phosphatase (Alp), Osteocalcin, and Osterix, while overexpression of Alx3 enhanced osteoblast differentiation induced by BMP-2. These results indicate that Alx3 expression is enhanced by BMP-2 via a Smad signalingdependent mechanism and that Alx3 is a positive regulator of osteoblast differentiation induced by BMP-2.