Exploring causality between bone mineral density and frailty: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.

OBJECTIVE: The bidirectional correlation between low bone mineral density (BMD) and frailty, despite its extensive documentation, still lacks a conclusive understanding. The objective of this Mendelian randomization (MR) study is to investigate the bidirectional causal relationship between BMD and frailty. METHODS: We utilized summary statistics data for BMD at different skeletal sites-including heel BMD (e-BMD, N = 40,613), forearm BMD (FA-BMD, N = 8,143), femoral neck BMD (FN-BMD, N = 32,735), and lumbar spine BMD (LS-BMD, N = 28,489), alongside frailty index (FI, N = 175,226) data in participants of European ancestry. MR analysis in our study was conducted using well-established analytical methods, including inverse variance weighted (IVW), weighted median (WM), and MR-Egger approaches. RESULTS: We observed negative causal estimates between genetically predicted e-BMD (IVW ß = - 0.020, 95% confidence interval (CI) = - 0.038, - 0.002, P = 0.029) and FA-BMD (IVW ß = -0.035, 95% CI = -0.066, -0.004, P = 0.028) with FI. However, the results did not reach statistical significance after applying the Bonferroni correction, with a significance threshold set at P < 0.0125 (0.05/4). There was no causal effect of FN-BMD (IVW ß = - 0.024, 95% CI = -0.052, 0.004, P = 0.088) and LS-BMD (IVW ß = - 0.005, 95% CI = -0.034, 0.024, P = 0.749) on FI. In the reverse Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis, we observed no causal effect of FI on BMD at various skeletal sites. CONCLUSION: Our study provides support for the hypothesis that low BMD may be a potential causal risk factor for frailty, but further research is needed to confirm this relationship. However, our findings did not confirm reverse causality.

Thiostrepton and miR-216b synergistically promote osteosarcoma cell cytotoxicity and apoptosis by targeting FoxM1.

Osteosarcoma is a common primary bone cancer that there are currently no effective treatment strategies for. Forkhead box M1 (FoxM1) is key in the development of osteosarcoma, and microRNA (miR)-216b serves an antitumor role by targeting FoxM1. Moreover, thiostrepton (TST), a natural thiazole antibiotic, induces antitumor effects and specifically targets FoxM1. Therefore, the present study investigated whether thiostrepton and miR-216b synergistically inhibited osteosarcoma cells by targeting FoxM1. The MTT assay, reverse transcription-quantitative PCR, a dual-luciferase reporter assay and flow cytometry were performed. Compared with the human osteoblast cell line hFOB1.19, miR-216b expression was significantly downregulated in the osteosarcoma cell lines U2OS, MG63 and Saos-2. By contrast, FoxM1 expression was significantly upregulated in osteosarcoma cell lines compared with the hFOB1.19 cell line. The results indicated that miR-216b targeted the 3'-untranslated region of FoxM1. Moreover, the results suggested that miR-216b cooperated with TST to decrease cell cytotoxicity and increase cell apoptosis. In addition, miR-216b cooperated with TST to increase Bax expression and decrease Bcl-2 expression. In conclusion, the combination of TST and miR-216b synergistically promoted osteosarcoma cell cytotoxicity and apoptosis by targeting FoxM1. Therefore, the present study suggested that the combination of TST and miR-216b may serve as a promising therapeutic strategy for osteosarcoma.

Integrated Network and Experimental Pharmacology for Deciphering the Medicinal Substances and Multiple Mechanisms of Duhuo Jisheng Decoction in Osteoarthritis Therapy.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is currently the most common joint disorder worldwide. In last decades, herbal remedies have achieved a significant advancement in the treatment of OA. Duhuo Jisheng Decoction (DHJS), an herbal formula consisting of 15 medicinal herbs, has a long-time practice in OA therapy in China. However, its therapeutic mechanisms have not been comprehensively elucidated. In the present work, integrated network and experimental pharmacology were performed for investigating the therapeutic substances and mechanisms of DHJS. Based on network analysis, the contribution of each herb to OA therapy was evaluated. Furthermore, a series of potential targets and signaling pathways were enriched, which could be involved in the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of DHJS. Further experimental results indicated that DHJS attenuated TNFα, IL-6, MMP-1, MMP-9, MMP-13, and ADAMTs-5 expression, inhibited NF-κB and p38 MAPK signaling pathway, activated AMPK-SIRT1 signaling pathway, and suppressed chondrocyte apoptosis, which synergistically contributed to OA therapy. Our work demonstrated that DHJS could be very promising for OA therapy through synergistically acting on multitargets and multipathways.