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Loma Linda University

Regulation of the Insulin-like Growth Factor System by Retinoic Acid in Human Osteoblast Cells

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>Retinoic acid (RA) is an important regulator of growth and differentiation in many cell types, including bone. However, its effects on human osteoblast cell growth and differentiation have not been well studied. Therefore, I investigated the effect of RA on proliferation and differentiation of normal human bone cells (HBCs) and human osteosarcoma, SaOS-2 cells. RA decreased baseline as well as serum-stimulated proliferation in normal HBCs. To determine the effect of RA on differentiation, expression of several osteoblastic differentiation markers were studied. RA decreased type I procollagen mRNA levels and l,25(OH)<sub>2</sub>D<sub>3</sub>-stimulated osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) mRNA levels as well as baseline and l,25(OH)<sub>2</sub>D<sub>3</sub>-stimulated ALP activity. These results indicate that RA inhibits human osteoblast cell proliferation and differentiation.</p> <p>The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system is an important local regulator of bone cell proliferation and differentiation. The actions of IGF are mediated through IGF receptors and are modulated by six IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs) which either inhibit or enhance IGF action. The effect of RA on the IGF system in HBCs has not yet been determined. Therefore, because RA inhibits and IGFs stimulate proliferation and differentiation, I tested the hypothesis that RA inhibits HBC growth and differentiation by down-regulating the IGF system. Adthough the expression of IGF-II (the predominant IGF in HBCs) was not decreased by RA, cell surface binding of IGF-I and IGF-II as well as IGF-I receptor expression were decreased by RA. Furthermore RA increased expression of inhibitory IGFBP-3, -4 and -6 and decreased the expression of stimulatory IGFBP-5. These results indicate that RA markedly down-regulated the IGF system.</p> <p>To investigate the mechanism(s) by which RA regulated IGFBP expression, the effect of RA on mRNA stability of each IGFBP was studied. RA moderately increased the mRNA stabilities of IGFBP-3, -4, -5 and -6, which could explain the small increase in IGFBP-3 and -4 steady-state mRNA levels, but could not explain the dramatic decrease in IGFBP-5 mRNA levels and increase in IGFBP-6 mRNA levels. By using quantitative RT-PCR analysis, I found that RA increased nascent IGFBP-6 transcripts by a mechanism dependent on protein synthesis. These results suggest that RA regulates the expression of IGFBP-3 and -4 primarily by delayed post-transcriptional and IGFBP-5 and -6 primarily by transcriptional or early post-transcriptional mechanisms.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Level thesis:degree_level
Dissertation
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Microbiology, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Year
1995

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Zhou, Yuehua
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Donna D. Strong
  • Thomas A. Linkhart
  • Subburaman Mohan
  • John F. Sands
  • Barry L. Taylor

Subjects

dc:subject × 4

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.
Language dc:language
English

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/821
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:scholarsrepository.llu.edu:etd-1940

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Loma Linda University
Base URL
scholarsrepository.llu.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Zhou, Yuehua. Regulation of the Insulin-like Growth Factor System by Retinoic Acid in Human Osteoblast Cells. Dissertation thesis, 1995. https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/821