Diveristy of Osteoclasts
Diversity and therapeutic targeting of osteoclasts associated with osteoporosis and chronic inflammation.
Chronic inflammatory diseases are associated with bone destruction, which can be significant and very debilitating for patients. As in osteoporosis, this bone destruction is linked to the overproduction of inflammatory mediators which increase the differentiation and activity of osteoclasts, cells responsible for bone resorption. Current treatments globally block osteoclast function, which reduces bone loss but leads to poor bone quality by disrupting bone balance.
Osteoclasts are phagocytes of the monocyte lineage, and our team at LP2M has shown that they have an immune function and inhibit or stimulate inflammation, depending on the context. We have also shown that these cells do not form a homogeneous population, but that there are several populations of osteoclasts, some of which are associated with a normal physiological state and others with inflammatory bone destruction.
Thanks to the comparative study of these different osteoclasts, we were able to show that inflammatory osteoclasts have a great capacity to respond to environmental signals, in particular those from the intestinal microbiota. Thus, administration of the probiotic yeast Saccharomyces boulardii specifically decreases the formation of inflammatory osteoclasts and reduces bone loss linked to osteoporosis.
We are continuing this work to understand the specificities of each type of osteoclast and how they react differently to environmental cues. Other factors controlling the formation and immune activity of inflammatory or physiological osteoclasts are being studied. This will allow us to test new molecules to specifically target those associated with inflammation without affecting those necessary for maintaining bone balance, thus opening up new therapeutic perspectives for osteoporosis or chronic inflammatory diseases.
This project is carried out jointly by the Laboratory of Molecular PhysioMedicine (LP2M) of the University Côte d'Azur and the Scientific Center of Monaco (CSM).
Teams involved in the "Osteoclasts" project:
CSM : "Ecosystèmes and Immunité" team : Dorota Czerucka and Rodolphe Pontier-Bres
UCA, LP2M: “Osteoimmunology and Inflammation” team: Claudine Blin; Abdelilah Wakkach; Matthieu Rouleau