Background
Osteoblasts originate from mesenchymal osteoprogenitor cells and play a key role in physiological bone turnover and pathological disorders including osteoporosis [
1], Paget's disease [
2] and tumor-induced osteolysis [
3]. Osteoblast functions are dependent on their differentiation status. Indeed, immature osteoblasts regulate recruitment, differentiation and maturation of osteoclasts [
4], as well as activity of osteoclasts [
5]. By contrast, mature osteoblasts produce bone matrix (collagen synthesis and mineralization) [
6]. Thus, the control of osteoblast differentiation is critical in the management of bone diseases.
In recent years, much interest emerged for the bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) due to their ability to self-renew, proliferate and differentiate into a variety of cell types of mesodermal, endodermal and ectodermal origins [
7]. There are no specific markers of MSC but these cells can be selected on the basis of a complex immunophenotype, comprising the differential expression of cell surface molecules (CD29, CD73, CD90, CD105 and CD166), and of markers of hematopoietic stem cells (CD34, CD45) and endothelial cells (CD31) [
8]. MSC exhibit various phenotypic characteristics of osteoblasts and can be grown in culture to differentiate into mature osteoblasts able to form mineralized bone nodules [
9,
10]. Recent studies have demonstrated successful osteogenic differentiation of MSC following treatment with bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP)-2,-4,-6 [
11], parathyroid hormone (PTH) plus vitamin D3 [
12], transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFβ1) [
13], estrogens [
14], and also oxysterols [
15]. On the other hand, the combination of dexamethasone, ascorbic acid and β-glycerophosphate (DAG) remains the most widely used tool to induce differentiation of MSC into osteoblasts [
16], but specific markers of the osteoblast lineage, especially during the early stages of differentiation, remain to be uncovered.
The proto-oncogene Src is a member of the Src family kinases (SFK) and has important roles in physiological and pathological processes such as cell survival, differentiation, tumorigenesis and inflammation [
17]. Src kinase is regulated by growth factors, cytokines, cell adhesion, and antigen receptor activation [
18]. It is generally maintained in an inactive conformation by phosphorylation at
527Tyr. The dephosphorylation of this residue by phosphatases leads to intramolecular autophosphorylation at
416Tyr, promoting the kinase activity [
19]. Src signaling coordinates both osteoclast and osteoblast activities [
20]. Recent studies have reported that Src kinase plays a positive role in osteoclast survival and resorbing activity, including cytoplasm polarization and ruffled border formation [
21]. On the other hand, Src may negatively regulate osteoblast maturation through a mechanism where the cytoplasmic shuttling Yes-associated protein (YAP) is recruited on the runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) nuclear domains to inhibit expression of Runx2 regulated genes [
22]. Thus, Src kinase is essential for osteoclast activation and osteoblast inhibition [
20,
23], and stands out as a promising therapeutic target for the prevention and the treatment of bone loss.
Dasatinib (BMS-354825) is a new dual Src/Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor. It was originally developed for the treatment of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) associated with a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22 that results in the formation of the Philadelphia chromosome and constitutively active tyrosine kinase Bcr-Abl [
24]. It has recently been used for the treatment of imatinib-resistant CML [
25]. Besides CML, dasatinib, by acting as a Src kinase inhibitor, has shown promising results in preclinical studies in various solid tumors. A recent study using non-small cell lung cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells has shown that it can inhibit cell migration and invasion, arrest cell cycle, and induce apoptosis [
26]. In prostate cancer cells, dasatinib was reported to block the kinase activity of Src and inhibit tumor cells adhesion, migration and invasion [
27]. It is also able to decrease tumor size and reduce the metastatic potential of pancreatic cancer cells in an orthotopic nude mouse model [
28]. In addition, very recent data revealed that dasatinib strongly promoted differentiation of primary mouse osteoblasts isolated from mouse calvaria [
29].
In the present study, we evaluated the effects of the Src inhibitor dasatinib on osteogenesis using an in vitro model of osteoblast differentiation comprising human bone marrow-derived MSC treated or not with DAG. To this aim, we first identified each stage of the differentiation using a panel of specific markers, and then, we examined the effects of dasatinib on these markers.
Methods
Selection and culture of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells
Bone marrow was harvested from the sternum of healthy volunteer donors (n = 7) and from the iliac crest of donors of bone marrow for transplantion (n = 3). The mean age of the donors was 25 years (range 5-55). Informed consent was obtained from all donors. The ethics committee of our Institution approved the use of the tissue material for this study.
Mononuclear cells (MNC) were isolated by density gradient centrifugation (Linfosep, Biomedics, Madrid, Spain) and washed in HBSS medium (BioWhittaker, Walkersville, MD). MNC were seeded at 5 × 106 cells/cm2 in alpha-minimum essential medium (α-MEM, BioWhittaker) supplemented with 15% FBS, 2 mM L-glutamine, 0.5% antibiotic/antimycotic solution (all from Gibco-BRL, Life Technologies, Merelbeke, Belgium). Cells were incubated at 37°C in a humidified 95% air and 5% CO2 atmosphere, cultured up to 80% confluence, and then trypsinized (trypsin-EDTA solution, Gibco-BRL), centrifuged, and replated at a density of 200 cells/cm2 for all subsequent passages. All experiments were performed with cells after the second or the third passage.
CFU-F assay was used to evaluate the number of mesenchymal progenitors in fresh bone marrow and after each passage. 105 MNC or 5,000 cells obtained after each passage were incubated in Petri dishes in a complete α-MEM medium. Ten days later, fibroblastic colonies with more than 50 cells were counted under light microscopy after a May Grunwald Giemsa coloration (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany).
Flow cytometry analysis
MSC phenotype was evaluated after each passage by the expression of CD31 (Immunotech, Marseille, France), CD34 (BD Biosciences Pharmingen, San Diego, CA), CD29 (Immunotech), CD45 and HLA-DR (Exalpha Biologicals, Maynard, MA), CD166 (DakoCytomation Denmark A/S, Glostrup, Denmark), CD73 (BD Biosciences Pharmingen) and CD105 (RD Systems, Minneapolis, MN). Cells were incubated for 30 min at room temperature with primary PE- (phycoerythrine) or FITC- (fluoresceine isothiocyanate) conjugated antibodies. Flow cytometry was performed using a Coulter EPICS XL (Beckman-Coulter, Miami, FL); 5,000 events for each sample were recorded.
Induction of osteogenic differentiation
MSC were seeded at 2,500 cells/cm
2 in 24-well dishes (for calcium & ALP assays) or in Petri culture plates (for RT-PCR) and cultured in α-MEM supplemented with 15% FBS up to confluence. Osteoblastic differentiation of MSC was induced by incubation with 10
-7 M dexamethasone (Aacidexam
®, Aaciphar, Brussels, Belgium), 6 × 10
-5 M ascorbic acid (Sigma, St Louis, MO) and 10
-2 M β-glycerophosphate (Sigma) (=DAG) [
16] for up to 3 weeks. Dasatinib, provided by Bristol Myers Squibb (Princeton, NJ), was solubilized in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (stock solution 10
-1 M) and used at 10
-8 M alone or in combination with DAG (as specified in Results). E804 (indirubin-3'-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)oximether, Alexis Biochemicals, Enzo Life Sciences BVBA, Zandhoven, Belgium), a specific Src inhibitor, was solubilized in DMSO (stock solution 10
-2 M) and used at 10
-7 M alone or in combination with DAG. The osteogenic medium was changed weekly and experiments were stopped after 7, 14 or 21 days to assess the osteoblastic phenotype of MSC. Osteogenic differentiation was monitored by mineralization assay, alkaline phosphatase activity measurement, osteoblast-related gene expression determination, and RANKL/OPN ratio ELISA evaluation.
Quantitative determination of calcium accumulation
To evaluate calcium deposition, the matrix was demineralized by addition of 500 μl of 0.6 N HCl during an overnight incubation at 37°C. Solutions were then collected and centrifuged at 2,000 × g for 5 min. Calcium concentration in the supernatant was determined by colorimetry (QuantiChrom Calcium Assays Kit, BioAssay Systems, Hayward, CA) as described by the manufacturer. Briefly, 5 μl samples were combined with 200 μl calcium reagent and incubated for 5 min at room temperature. The absorbance was measured immediately after incubation at 610 nm using a plate reader (Organon Teknika Cappel Products, West Chester, PA).
Quantitative analysis of alkaline phosphatase activity
ALP activity was determined using the LabAssay™ ALP (Wako Chemicals Gmbh, Neus, Germany), according to the manufacturer's recommendations. This measurement consists of the determination of the quantity of p-nitrophenol released from the substrate. The cell layers were lysed with 100 μl of ice-cold 0.1% Triton X-100 in PBS. Samples were then frozen and thawed twice, and the cell lysates were collected. Samples (20 μl) were combined with 100 μl ALP reagent and the activity was measured after an incubation of 15 min at 37°C. The absorbance was measured immediately at 405 nm and the amount of p-nitrophenol was determined by comparison with a standard curve. ALP activity (U, μmol p-nitrophenol released per min) was normalized to the number of cells evaluated by the trypan blue dye exclusion assay.
Semi-quantitative RT-PCR assay
Total RNA from MSC cultured in Petri plates was extracted by the Tripure method (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN). The samples (1 μg RNA) were treated by DNAse (Invitrogen Life Technologies, Merelbeek, Belgium) at 37°C for 30 min in a final volume of 10 μl containing 1 μl DNAse, 10 × buffer and 1 U DNAse RQI. The reverse transcription was performed with 1 μg DNAse-treated RNA using the M-MLV reverse transcriptase (Invitrogen Life Technologies) in a final volume of 20 μl containing 4 μl first-strand buffer, 10
-2 M DTT, 1 μM each of dNTP, 50 URNase inhibitor, and 100 U M-MLV reverse transcriptase, leading to the production of cDNA. Five ng cDNA were used for PCR reaction in a final volume of 50 μl containing 25 μl multiplex PCR mix and 200 nmol forward and reverse primers (Sigma-Genosys, Pampisford Cambs, U.K.) (see list in Table
1). After the activation step (95°C for 15 min), each cycle consisted of denaturation at 94°C for 30 sec, annealing at 60°C for 90 sec, extension at 72°C for 90 sec and elongation at 72°C for 10 min. After the optimal number of cycles determined for each primer set, PCR products were separated by electrophoresis on 2% (w/v) agarose gel and were visualized by ethidium bromide staining. Gels were scanned with FLA-5000 imaging system (Fujifilm, Tokyo, Japan) and Image Reader software (Raytest
®, Straubenhardt, Germany). Band intensities were quantified using AIDA
® Image Analyser 3.45 software (Raytest
®) and normalized against β-actin mRNA used as an internal control.
Table 1
Primers used for semi-quantitative RT-PCR evaluation of RNA of osteoblast-related genes and housekeeping gene.
β-actin | Forward Reverse | tgacggggtcaccacactgtgcccatcta ctagaagcatttgcggtggacgatggaggg | 610 |
ALP | Forward Reverse | cagaagctcaacaccaacg ccagcaagaagaagcctttg | 815 |
BMP2 | Forward Reverse | cccacttggaggagaaacaa acgtctgaacaatggcatga | 351 |
BSP | Forward Reverse | atggcctgtgctttctcaat ccgtttatgccttgttcgtt | 497 |
Runx2 | Forward Reverse | aagaaggacagacagaagc aggtggcagtgtcatcatct | 428 |
COL-I | Forward Reverse | agtgctagacatgctcagct ttcaccatctctgcctgcgg | 173 |
OPG | Forward Reverse | tgcagtacgtcaagcaggag gtgtcttggtcgccattttt | 754 |
OPN | Forward Reverse | ctaggcatcacctgtgccatacc cagtgaccagttcatcagattcatc | 395 |
OSN | Forward Reverse | gtgcagaggaaaccgaagag tcattgctgcacaccttctc | 172 |
OSX | Forward Reverse | ggcacaaagaagccgtactc gccttgtaccaggagccata | 296 |
PTHr | Forward Reverse | aggaacagatcttcctgctgca tgcatgtggatgtagttgcgcgt | 521 |
RANKL | Forward Reverse | agagcgcagatggatcctaa ttccttttgcacagctcctt | 180 |
Real-time quantitative PCR assay
Messenger RNA expressions of relevant osteoblast-related markers (RANKL, OPG, BSP, OPN) were quantified by RTqPCR using SYBR
® Green dye (SYBR
® Green PCR Master Mix, Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) and sequence-specific primers (Table
2). Total RNA from control and treated cells was isolated using Tripure method (Roche Diagnostics). Reverse transcription was performed using 1 μg total RNA and the reverse transcription system (Promega, Madison, WI). The amplification was performed in an ABI PRISM
® 7900 Sequence Detection System (Applied Biosystems) with 40 cycles of a two-step PCR (95°C for 15 sec and 60°C for 60 sec) after an initial activation step (95°C for 10 min). Melting curves from 60°C to 99°C were assessed to evaluate specificity. Serial dilutions of purified amplicons served to generate standard melting curves. Relative quantification was calculated by normalizing the test crossing thresholds (Ct) with the β-actin amplified control Ct.
Table 2
Primers used for real-time quantitative RT-PCR evaluation of RNA of RANKL, OPG, BSP, OPN and β-actin.
β-actin | Forward Reverse | ctggcacccagcacaatg ccgatccacacggagtacttg | 68 |
BSP | Forward Reverse | tacacgggcgtcaatgaata aggttccccgttctcacttt | 63 |
OPG | Forward Reverse | ggcaacacagctcacaagaa cgctgttttcacagaggtca | 117 |
OPN | Forward Reverse | ttgcagtgatttgcttttgc gccacagcatctgggtattt | 115 |
RANKL | Forward Reverse | agagcgcagatggatcctaa ttccttttgcacagctcctt | 180 |
Cell proliferation assay
Cell proliferation was assessed by a colorimetric assay based on the cleavage of the tetrazolium salt WST-1 to a formazan-class dye by the mitochondrial succinate-tetrazolium reductase in viable cells. Briefly, MSC were seeded in 96-well plates (density 1,000 cells/well) in complete culture medium and cultured for 24 hours. Cells were then exposed to increasing concentrations of dasatinib or vehicle, in presence or not of DAG, for 3, 7 or 10 days as described in "Results". Then, the Cell Proliferation Reagent WST-1 (Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Mannheim, Germany) was added to the plate, and the cells were cultured for 2 additional hours. The quantity of formazan dye, directly related to the number of metabolically active cells, was quantified by measuring the absorbance at 450 nm with a multiwell spectrophotometer (Organon Teknica, Austria). Blank wells lacked cells and drugs.
Western blotting
Control and dasatinib-treated MSC (cultured in Petri plates) were lysed using detergent cocktail (M-PER Mammalian Extraction Buffer) supplemented with protease inhibitors (Halt Protease Inhibitor Cocktail) and phosphatase inhibitors (Halt Phosphatase Inhibitor Cocktail) (all from Pierce, Rockford, IL, USA). Protein concentrations were determined by the BCA Protein Assay (Pierce) using bovine serum albumin as standard. Equal amounts of cell proteins (30 μg) were subjected to 10% SDS-PAGE and electrotransferred onto nitrocellulose membranes (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Roosendaal, The Netherlands). Immunodetections were performed using a rabbit polyclonal anti-human p-Src (Tyr 419) antibody (1:200) (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA, USA) or a rabbit polyclonal anti-human Src antibody (1:1,000) (Cell Signaling Technology, Danvers, MA, USA). Peroxidase-labeled anti-rabbit IgG antibody (1:5,000) (from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech) was used as secondary reagents. Bound peroxidase activity was revealed using the SuperSignal® West Pico Chemiluminescent Substrate (Pierce). Immunostaining signals were digitalized with a PC-driven LAS-3000 CCD camera (Fujifilm, Tokyo, Japan), using a software specifically designed for image acquisition (Image Reader, Raytest®, Straubenhardt, Germany).
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
Measurements of RANKL and OPG in 24-hours conditioned medium of MSC (cultured in Petri plates) exposed to dasatinib for 3 and 7 days were performed using two commercially available ELISA kits (ampli-sRANKL ELISA and Osteoprotegerin ELISA, Biomedica GmbH, Vienna, Austria) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Briefly, 50 μl conditioned medium (1 ml corresponding to 105 cells) or Standards, 50 μl polyclonal biotinylated antibodies, and 100 μl Assay Buffer were incubated for 24 hours at 4°C in microtiter plates pre-coated with human recombinant OPG (for RANKL detection) or monoclonal anti-OPG antibody (for OPG detection). The wells were washed with 300 μl Wash Buffer and were incubated with 200 μl Conjugate for 1 hour at room temperature. Then, the wells were incubated with Substrate for 20 min at room temperature and the absorbance was measured using a plate reader (Organon Teknika Cappel Products) at 450 nm with reference at 620 nm after the addition of 50 μl Stop Solution. Standard ranges were 0-2 pmol/L for RANKL and 0-30 pmol/L for OPG. Detection limits were 0.02 pmol/L for RANKL and 0.14 pmol/L for OPG. Data were normalized to total protein content (BCA Protein Assay, Pierce) and were presented as RANKL/OPG ratio.
Statistical analysis
Results are expressed as the mean ± the standard error of the mean (SEM) of independent experiments (one experiment used bone marrow-derived MSC from one single donor), each performed in duplicate. Statistical analysis was performed by analysis of variance (ANOVA). Tukey post hoc test was used for multiple comparisons between groups. Statistical significance was set at * 0.05, ** 0.01 and *** 0.001. All analyses used SPSS software (Paris, France).
Discussion
We assessed the effects of the Src inhibitor dasatinib on the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) treated or not with a combination of dexamethasone, ascorbic acid and β-glycerophosphate (DAG).
Firstly, we have searched for the most informative markers of osteogenic differentiation of MSC induced by DAG and found a set of 5 markers (mineralization, ALP activity and expression of RANKL, BSP and OPN) that best characterize the 4 stages of osteoblast differentiation: native stage (undifferentiated MSC), early stage (osteoprogenitors), intermediate stage (mature osteoblasts), and late stage (late osteoblasts). Of note, many genes related to the osteoblastic phenotype or activity have been previously used to define the osteoblastic status of different cellular types [
30,
31]. However, in our model, we found that the expression of several of them, notably Runx2, COL-I, OSN and OPG, was already present in DAG-untreated MSC and remained unchanged during osteoblastic differentiation, while others have reported that the expression of Runx2 and COL-I increased along the osteoblast differentiation [
32]. This divergence can be explained by the fact that MSC preparations may contain multidifferentiated cells, which express both immature and mature proteins of different tissues [
33,
34]. In addition, recent reports indicate that the phosphorylation level but not the expression level of Runx2 is related to the differentiation status of osteoblasts [
35]. Therefore, the expression of these genes should be considered rather as a weak indicator of MSC differentiation into osteoblasts. Interestingly and in accordance with previous observations [
36,
37], ALP activity and gene expression increased during MSC differentiation into osteoblasts. However, we found that ALP activity and gene expression did not fully correlate; ALP activity is probably more reliable to the mineralization process. Indeed, in undifferentiated MSC and late osteoblasts, ALP activity was, respectively, very low and significantly downregulated, while ALP mRNA was expressed at high levels. These data indicate that ALP activity is more informative than ALP gene expression as a marker of MSC differentiation.
Based on our selection of markers, we have evaluated the effects of the Src inhibitor dasatinib on the differentiation of MSC into osteoblasts. Our interest in Src inhibitors stems from a recent study showing that the differentiation of the MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts was accompanied by a decrease in phosphorylation of the activator site (
416Tyr) of Src and an increase in phosphorylation of its inhibitor site (
527Tyr) [
38]. This indicates that the post-translational inhibition of Src is associated with the activation of osteoblast differentiation. Moreover, targeted disruption of Src gene in mice leads to osteopetrosis [
39], and osteoblasts isolated from Src
-/- mice exhibit accelerated differentiation and elevated levels of osteoblast-related markers [
40]. Taken together, these data suggest that Src inhibition may stimulate osteoblast differentiation. To validate that Src was targeted by dasatinib in MSC, we confirmed that dasatinib inhibits the phosphorylation of the activator site of Src. We also showed that the specific Src inhibitor E804 stimulated osteoblast differentiation as it increased ALP activity in MSC exposed to DAG. By contrast, mice deficient in Abl, another potent target of dasatinib, are osteoporotic and have defects in osteoblast maturation [
41], excluding a positive role of Abl inhibition by dasatinib in the differentiation of MSC into osteoblasts. We also considered other targets of dasatinib, namely platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) [
42] and cKIT/CD117 [
43]. The role of PDGFR in the osteoblastic differentiation of MSC remains, however, controversial [
44,
45], and new data clearly demonstrated that PDGFR signaling is not involved in osteogenic differentiation of human MSC, while it affects MSC proliferation [
46]. On the other hand, we did not detect cKIT in MSC (data not shown, Western blotting using mouse mAb cKIT (Ab81) from Cell Signaling Technology, LND1 melanoma cell line as positive control), confirming previous observations [
47]. Altogether, these data indicate that Src is the most relevant dasatinib target involved in the process of osteoblastic differentiation of MSC.
In this study, we found that dasatinib promoted time-dependent changes in osteoblast-related markers in MSC. These changes matched the ones induced by DAG and corresponded to the progressive differentiation of MSC into osteoblasts (see Fig.
3). Indeed, we documented that dasatinib, in combination with DAG, increased ALP activity after 7 days, and consequently, speeded up calcium deposition after 14 days without exceeding the maximum levels reached with DAG alone, and that it increased the expression of BSP and OPN, mainly in the late stage of MSC differentiation. Thus, dasatinib was able to stimulate each stage of the differentiation of MSC into osteoblasts. Importantly, our experiments were performed with a non-toxic but effective concentration of dasatinib (10
-8 M) able to inhibit Src kinase activity (inhibition of Src phosphorylation) in accordance with a previous report showing inhibition of the kinase activity of purified Src protein with an IC50 of 3 × 10
-9 M [
27]. Altogether, our data, added to previous studies from other groups [
20,
22,
23,
27], strongly support that Src kinase activity is the main target for dasatinib in MSC differentiation process. Interestingly, a very recent study revealed that dasatinib strongly enhanced differentiation of primary mouse osteoblasts isolated from mouse calvaria (stimulation of ALP activity, osteocalcin secretion, matrix mineralization) [
29]. The authors showed that among the Src family kinases, only Src was activated at a high level in this model, and that
419Tyr-Src phosphorylation was inhibited by dasatinib. Moreover, knockdown of Src by lenti-shRNA in osteoblasts enhanced their differentiation, suggesting that dasatinib stimulated osteoblast differentiation through the inhibition of Src. Of note, the authors also reported that osteoblast differentiation by dasatinib could be mediated through the inhibition of Abl, however, they found that Abl was expressed at a low level in osteoblasts, suggesting a limited impact.
In the other hand, we observed that dasatinib alone was able to decrease RANKL mRNA expression as well as RANKL protein released in culture medium (decrease in RANKL/OPG ratio) in undifferentiated MSC (no DAG induction) cultured up to 7 days, suggesting a possible indirect inhibitory effect on osteoclastogenesis and, consequently, on bone resorption. In this context, recent studies reported that tyrosine kinase inhibitors are effective in inhibiting the differentiation and activity of human osteoclasts [
48], and in preventing bone loss in animal models [
17]. Thus, our data indicate that, in addition to its previously reported direct inhibitory effects on the osteoclast formation and activity [
49,
50], dasatinib may also act indirectly on osteoclasts through the modulation of RANKL expression in osteoblasts.
Furthermore, as far as the bone loss associated with metastases is concerned, recent preclinical and clinical studies indicated that dasatinib could potentially have inhibitory effects both on osteoclasts and tumor cells. Indeed, dasatinib decreased the osteolysis induced by prostate cancer cells injected into tibiae of SCID mice and inhibited the growth of cancer cells [
51], while it reduced the expression of markers of bone resorption in patients with advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer [
52]. Thus, our findings complete these observations by demonstrating a direct effect of dasatinib on osteoblasts, which could further contribute to the disruption of the vicious circle established between bone cells and tumor cells.
Our data also suggest that patients with bone loss could benefit from dasatinib therapy in accordance with critical findings using imatinib, another tyrosine kinase inhibitor currently used in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Indeed, short-term imatinib treatment increased OPG/RANKL ratio and osteocalcin levels in serum of CML patients [
53], while long-term (> 2 years) imatinib therapy promoted bone formation [
54] and increased bone mineral density (cortical bone mineralization) [
55].
Competing interests
MP and JJB are recipients of a research grant from Bristol Myers Squibb (Princeton, NJ, USA).
Authors' contributions
HIB participated in experimental design, performed experiments and analyses. LL participated in experimental design, interpreted the data, and drafted the manuscript. MN helped to draft the manuscript. MP, GG and JJB discussed the results and critically revised the manuscript. FJ designed the experiments, assembled tables and figures, and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.