Subburaman Mohan

Bone Growth Factors

Bone volume is determined by the relative rates of bone formation and bone resorption. Recent research in several laboratories suggests that growth factors may act locally to modulate bone formation by stimulating osteoblast proliferation and activity. A number of bone-derived growth factors have been isolated and characterized from bone matrix extracts and from media conditioned by bone cells and bone organs in culture. The growth factors found in bone matrix include insulinlike growth factors I and II, transforming growth factor-beta, acidic and basic fibroblast growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, and bone morphogenetic proteins. Conditioned medium from bone cells contains several of these growth factors and also hematopoietic factors. These bone matrix-derived growth factors have different biologic activities, including mitogenic, differentiating, chemotactic, and osteolytic activities. Evidence suggests that bone cells produce substantial quantities of growth factors for extracellular storage in bone matrix. Apart from being produced for extracellular storage, it is possible that growth factors secreted by bone cells have acute effects on their neighboring osteoblastic cells, i.e., paracrine action, or on themselves, i.e., autocrine action. The release of matrix-stored growth factors by bone resorption may mean that growth factors act as delayed paracrine agents, e.g., osteoblasts deposit growth factors in bone and later when these growth factors are released from bone via bone resorption, the growth factors stimulate osteoblast precursors to proliferate. The findings that bone is a storehouse for growth factors and that bone cells in culture produce and respond to bone growth factors suggest bone growth factors may act as potential determinants of local bone formation. This review is focused on the structure, regulation, and biologic actions of the known bone growth factors.

Growth factors for bone growth and repair: IGF, TGFβ and BMP

Abstract Current research is reviewed regarding the actions of three growth factor systems on bone formation: insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), transforming growth factor-βs (TGFβs), and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). Each growth factor family consists of multiple related growth factor genes. TGFβs and BMPs 2–7 are subfamilies of a larger TGFβ superfamily. IGFs, TGFβs and BMPs are produced by osteoblasts and other bone cells and affect osteoblast proliferation and differentiation. They are also incorporated into mineralized bone matrix and retain activity when extracted from bone. Various hormones, growth factors, and mechanical stress influence bone cell production of IGFs, TGF βs, and BMPs. Thus these growth factors may function in local regulation of bone formation. Currently there is much interest in the function of IGF binding proteins, which are also produced by bone cells, in regulating IGF activities in bone. Recently, mechanisms for activation of the TGFβ serine/threonine kinase receptors have been investigated, and receptors for BMPs have been identified which are structurally related to TGFβ receptors. In vivo studies are discussed which demonstrate the applicability of IGFs, TGFβs and BMPs to increasing bone formation systemically, promoting fracture healing and inducing bone growth around implants.

The Role of Liver-Derived Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I

IGF-I is expressed in virtually every tissue of the body, but with much higher expression in the liver than in any other tissue. Studies using mice with liver-specific IGF-I knockout have demonstrated that liver-derived IGF-I, constituting a major part of circulating IGF-I, is an important endocrine factor involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes. Detailed studies comparing the impact of liver-derived IGF-I and local bone-derived IGF-I demonstrate that both sources of IGF-I can stimulate longitudinal bone growth. We propose here that liver-derived circulating IGF-I and local bone-derived IGF-I to some extent have overlapping growth-promoting effects and might have the capacity to replace each other (= redundancy) in the maintenance of normal longitudinal bone growth. Importantly, and in contrast to the regulation of longitudinal bone growth, locally derived IGF-I cannot replace (= lack of redundancy) liver-derived IGF-I for the regulation of a large number of other parameters including GH secretion, cortical bone mass, kidney size, prostate size, peripheral vascular resistance, spatial memory, sodium retention, insulin sensitivity, liver size, sexually dimorphic liver functions, and progression of some tumors. It is clear that a major role of liver-derived IGF-I is to regulate GH secretion and that some, but not all, of the phenotypes in the liver-specific IGF-I knockout mice are indirect, mediated via the elevated GH levels. All of the described multiple endocrine effects of liver-derived IGF-I should be considered in the development of possible novel treatment strategies aimed at increasing or reducing endocrine IGF-I activity.

Primary structure of human skeletal growth factor: homology with human insulin-like growth factor-II.

Human skeletal growth factor (human SGF) extracted from human bone has been purified to homogeneity by hydroxyapatite chromatography and gel filtration under dissociative conditions followed by FPLC heparin-Sepharose affinity chromatography and reverse phase HPLC. Human SGF was homogeneous except that in each preparation about 30% of SGF molecules lacked the N-terminal alanine. 75% of the human SGF sequence has been determined. The amino acid sequences of the N-terminal 20 amino acids and of several tryptic fragments were identical to the corresponding sequences of human insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II) purified from serum. However, since the C-peptide (variable region) of human SGF has not yet been sequenced, we cannot conclude that SGF is identical to IGF-II. Comparison of the amino acid sequence of human SGF with that of IGF-II variants that have been described in the literature revealed that human SGF is not one of the known IGF-II variants. IGF-I was also found in human bone extract but was several-fold less abundant than SGF/IGF-II. The relative abundance of SGF/IGF-II and IGF-I in bone corresponded to the relative rates of production of these two mitogens by human bone cells in vitro. Regarding the physiological significance of IGF-II in bone, previous studies on the biological actions of SGF in vitro suggest that this growth factor can have both paracrine and autocrine functions on cells of the osteoblast line. In addition, we have proposed the concept that SGF is a mediator of the coupling of bone formation to bone resorption, an important bone volume regulatory mechanism. In as much as SGF is very similar (if not identical) to IGF-II, it seems likely that these proposed regulatory functions of SGF in bone are attributable to IGF-II.

Evidence that IGF-binding protein-5 functions as a growth factor

Recent studies support the concept that IGF-binding protein-5 (IGFBP-5) stimulates bone formation, at least in part, via IGF-independent mechanisms. To evaluate this hypothesis further, we evaluated in vitro and in vivo effects of IGFBP-5 on bone formation parameters using the IGF-I knockout (KO) mouse. Treatment of serum-free cultures of osteoblast clones derived from IGF-I KO mice with recombinant human IGFBP-5 increased both proliferation and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in a dose-dependent manner, an effect comparable to that seen with IGF-I. IGF-II levels from media conditioned by osteoblasts derived from IGF-I KO mouse were below those detectable by RIA. To eliminate possible actions of IGF-II, if any was produced by osteoblasts derived from IGF-I knockout mice, the IGFBP-5 effect was studied in the presence of exogenously added IGFBP-4, a potent inhibitor of IGF-II actions in bone cells. Addition of IGFBP-4 blocked IGF-I- but not IGFBP-5-induced cell proliferation in osteoblasts derived from IGF-I knockout mice. Consistent with in vitro results, a single local injection of IGFBP-5 to the outer periosteum of the parietal bone of IGF-I KO mice increased ALP activity and osteocalcin levels of calvarial bone extracts. The magnitudes of IGFBP-5-induced increases in ALP and osteocalcin in parietal bone extracts of IGF-I KO mice were comparable to those seen in C3H mice. In contrast to IGFBP-5, local administration of IGFBP-4 had no significant effect on bone formation in C3H and IGF-I KO mice. These results provide the first direct evidence to our knowledge that IGFBP-5 functions as a growth factor that stimulates its actions in part via an IGF-independent mechanism.

Overexpression of Insulin-Like Growth Factor-Binding Protein-2 in Transgenic Mice Reduces Postnatal Body Weight Gain

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2) has been shown to inhibit IGF-dependent cell proliferation in a number of in vitro studies. However, no in vivo model of IGFBP-2 overexpression has been established so far. Therefore, we have generated transgenic mice, in which expression of a mouse IGFBP-2 complementary DNA is controlled by the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter. In two independent transgenic strains, transgene expression was highest in pancreas and stomach, followed by skeletal muscle, heart, colon, spleen, adipose tissue, brain, and kidney. Within the pancreas, IGFBP-2 expression was found in the islets but not in the exocrine part. Serum IGFBP-2 levels of CMV-IGFBP-2 transgenic mice were about 3-fold (P , 0.05) increased, compared with controls, whereas serum levels of IGF-I and IGF-II were unaffected by IGFBP-2 overexpression. Fasted serum glucose and fasted insulin levels were slightly reduced in transgenic mice, compared with controls. Postprandial serum glucose insulin levels were not affected by the genotype. At days later than 23, body weights of transgenic mice were significantly (P , 0.05) reduced in both sexes, compared with nontransgenic littermates. This reduction in body weight was mainly attributable to significantly (P , 0.05) lower carcass weights of CMVIGFBP-2 transgenic vs. control mice. In contrast, absolute organ weights were not (or only as a tendency) reduced, except for the weight of the spleen, which was significantly (P , 0.05) lower in male transgenic than in control mice. Our data suggest that IGFBP-2 represents a negative regulator of postnatal growth in mice, potentially by reducing the bioavailability of IGF-I. (Endocrinology 140: 5488 ‐5496, 1999)

The insulin-like growth factor system and the coupling of formation to resorption

In the adult skeleton, bone formation is regulated by an event referred to as the coupling of formation to resorption (i.e., formation is linked to resorption), which is thought to be mediated in part by locally produced growth factors. Although human bone cells produce and human bones contain a variety of growth factors, there is sufficient evidence to document an important role for the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system in mediating this coupling process in bone. Studies on the basic aspects of the IGF system in bone reveal that it is complex and involves a number of components which include the IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs; mainly IGFBP-3, -4, and -5), specific extracellular IGFBP proteases, and receptors (types 1 and 2). Based on recent experimental evidence from a number of laboratories, we propose the following models of IGF action on the regulation of the coupled increase in bone formation in response to bone resorption: (1) IGF release from bone during bone resorption promotes osteoblasts to initiate cavity refilling; (2) IGF production by osteoclasts creates a population of osteoblasts in proportion to the volume of bone tissue resorbed; and (3) IGF production by stromal cells and osteoblasts predominantly regulates the extent of cavity refill. The amount of growth factor production by osteoblasts and contemporary cells of osteoblast lineage can be further controlled by both systemic and local factors which together determine the eventual level of fill-in of the resorption cavity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Circulating and skeletal insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) concentrations in two inbred strains of mice with different bone mineral densities

Recent work has demonstrated differences in femoral bone mineral density between two common inbred strains of mice, C3H/HeJ (C3H) and C57BL/6J (B6), across a wide age range. To investigate one possible mechanism that could affect acquisition and maintenance of bone mass in mice, we studied circulatory and skeletal insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and femoral bone mineral density (F-BMD) by pQCT in C3H and B6 progenitor strains, as well as serum IGF-I obtained from matings between these two strains and mice bred from subsequent F1 intercrosses (F2). Serum IGF-I measured by radioimmunoassay was more than 35% higher in virgin progenitor C3H than virgin B6 at 1, 4, 8, and 10 months of age, and in 8-month-old C3H compared with B6 retired breeders (p < 0.001). In the progenitors, there was also a strong correlation between serum IGF-I and serum alkaline phosphatase (r = 0.51, p = 0.001). In the 4 month F1 females IGF-I levels and F-BMD were intermediate between C3H and B6 progenitors. In contrast, groups of F2 mice with the highest or lowest BMD also had the highest or lowest serum IGF-I (p = 0.0001). IGF-I accounted for > 35% of the variance in F-BMD among the F2 mice. Conditioned media from newborn C3H calvarial cultures had higher concentrations of IGF-I than media from B6 cultures, and cell layer extracts from C3H calvariae exhibited greater alkaline phosphatase activity than cultures from B6 calvarial cells (p < 0.0001). The skeletal content of IGF-I in C3H tibiae, femorae, and calvariae (6-14 weeks of age) was also significantly higher than IGF-I content in the same bones of the B6 mice (p < 0.05). These data suggest that a possible mechanism for the difference in acquisition and maintenance of bone mass between these two inbred strains is related to systemic and skeletal IGF-I synthesis.

Isolation of a novel insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding protein from human bone: a potential candidate for fixing IGF-II in human bone

Insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II) is the most abundant growth factor stored in human bone. Upon release from this storage depot, IGF-II could act in bone repair and in the coupling of bone formation to bone resorption, a process inherent to bone which is a key regulatory process for maintenance of bone tissue. In this study, we report the isolation and characterization of a novel IGF binding protein (IGFBP) from human bone and describe how this IGFBP may be involved in the fixation of IGF-II in human bone. This new IGFBP has an apparent molecular weight of 29 kDa and has several fold higher affinity for IGF-II than IGF-I which could explain the much greater abundance of IGF-II than IGF-I in human bone. In terms of biological activity, this IGFBP was found to potentiate the proliferative actions of IGF-II on bone cells. This work raises the possibility that this IGFBP may participate in mediating some of the actions of IGF-II.

Estradiol stimulates invitro the secretion of insulin-like growth factors by the clonal osteoblastic cell line, UMR106

UMR106 cells, a rat osteosarcoma derived clonal line, secreted insulin-like growth factors (IGF) in vitro. The IGF-II levels corrected for the cell numbers were 7-8 times higher than the IGF-I levels in the medium. Both growth factors were higher by 4-5 fold in medium conditioned by rapidly growing cells than in medium conditioned by confluent cells. The addition of 17-beta-estradiol (E) to the culture medium was associated with a statistically significant increase in the IGF concentrations. This increment was metabolite specific, not occurring with 17-alpha-E, the inactive epimer of E. 1,25(OH)2D3 also increased the IGF-I concentration but prior treatment with E blocked the response to 1,25(OH)2D3, demonstrating antagonistic actions of these two hormones on IGF secretion by osteoblast-like cells.