A recent study reported the expression of receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB (RANK) in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) surface that negatively regulates osteogenesis of MSCs. Empirical evidence from the previous study confirmed the role of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) in osteoblastogenesis. However, it is necessary to understand the paracrine role of PTHrP and RANKL for osteogenesis in order to explore the hidden secrets in bone biology. Considering the above concept, paracrine cues of soluble-receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (sRANKL) and PTHrP in osteogenic differentiation of MSCs were investigated. Our results confirmed that sRANKL increased the expression of surface-RANK in MSCs at the earlier stage of osteogenesis, which was downregulated later in differentiated MSCs. In contrast, RANKL expression was low at the earlier stage of MSCs proliferation and high at the differentiation stage of MSCs, which may play a fundamental role in osteoclast formation. sRANKL downregulated osteogenesis of MSCs by decreasing progressive ankylosis (ANK) protein expression while PTHrP upregulated the osteogenic exploitive effect of sRANKL. Interestingly, when they were co-cultured with MSCs, T-lymphocytes expressed high membrane-RANKL levels that contribute to osteogenesis inhibition during MSC differentiation. Thus, our results disclose that sRANKL treatment downregulates osteogenesis of MSCs by increasing RANK expression at the earlier stage of differentiation and by inhibiting ANK. Further, we demonstrated that PTHrP accelerated the downregulating osteogenic effect of sRANKL.
Human articular chondrocytes secrete parathyroid hormone-related protein and inhibit hypertrophy of mesenchymal stem cells in coculture during chondrogenesis