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. 2018 Aug 8;18(1):55.
doi: 10.1186/s12902-018-0283-x.

Type 2 diabetes affects bone cells precursors and bone turnover

Francesca Sassi  1 , Ilaria Buondonno  1 , Chiara Luppi  1 , Elena Spertino  1 , Emanuela Stratta  1 , Marco Di Stefano  1 , Marco Ravazzoli  1 , Gianluca Isaia  2 , Marina Trento  3 , Pietro Passera  3 , Massimo Porta  3 , Giovanni Carlo Isaia  1 , Patrizia D'Amelio  4
Affiliations

Type 2 diabetes affects bone cells precursors and bone turnover

Francesca Sassi et al. BMC Endocr Disord. .

Abstract

Background: Here we study the effect of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) on bone cell precursors, turnover and cytokines involved in the control of bone cell formation and activity.

Methods: We enrolled in the study 21 T2DM women and 21 non diabetic controls matched for age and body mass index (BMI). In each subject we measured bone cell precursors, Receptor Activator of Nuclear Factor κB (RANKL), Osteoprotegerin (OPG), Sclerostin (SCL) and Dickoppf-1 (DKK-1) as cytokines involved in the control of osteoblast and osteoclast formation and activity, bone density (BMD) and quality trough trabecular bone score (TBS) and bone turnover. T2DM patients and controls were compared for the analyzed variables by one way ANOVA for Gaussian ones and by Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis test for non-Gaussian variables.

Results: RANKL was decreased and DKK-1 increased in T2DM. Accordingly, patients with T2DM have lower bone turnover compared to controls. BMD and TBS were not significantly different from healthy controls. Bone precursor cells were more immature in T2DM. However the number of osteoclast precursors was increased and that of osteoblasts decreased.

Conclusions: Patients with T2DM have more immature bone cells precursors, with increased number of osteoclasts and decreased osteoblasts, confirming low bone turnover and reduced cytokines such as RANKL and DKK-1. BMD and TBS are not significantly altered in T2DM although, in contrast with other studies, this may be due to the match of patients and controls for BMI rather than age.

Keywords: Bone density; Diabetes; Osteoblast; Osteoclast; Receptor activator of nuclear factor κB; Sclerostin.

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Conflict of interest statement

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of our Hospital (“Comitato Etico Interaziendale A.O.U. Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino - A.O. Ordine Mauriziano - A.S.L. TO1”), in accordance with the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Not applicable.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Dot plots show bone cell precursors in peripheral blood in T2DM patients and controls. Panel a: OB precursor cells; Panel b: ALP expression by OB precursor cells as measured by flow cytometry; Panel c: OC precursor cells; Panel d: VNR expression by OC precursor cells as measured by flow cytometry. P value was calculated with by one way ANOVA and is shown in the graph when significant
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Graphs show cytokines involved in the control of bone cells formation and activity in T2DM patients and controls. Panel a: RANKL; Panel b: OPG; Panel c: DKK-1. Panel d: SCL. Box and whiskers plot displays median, the first and third quartiles, and the minimum and maximum of the data. P value was calculated with by Mann-Whitney test and is shown in the graph when significant
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Graphs show bone turnover markers in T2DM patients and controls. Panel a: the bone formation marker P1NP; Panel b: the bone formation marker OCN; Panel c: the bone resorption marker TRAP5b. Box and whiskers plot displays median, the first and third quartiles, and the minimum and maximum of the data. P value was calculated with by Mann-Whitney test and is shown in the graph when significant
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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