Sci Transl Med. 2018 Aug 8;10(453). pii: eaao6806. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aao6806.

Thy-1 (CD90) promotes bone formation and protects against obesity.

Picke AK¹, Campbell GM², Blüher M³, Krügel U⁴, Schmidt FN⁵, Tsourdi E¹, Winzer M¹, Rauner M¹, Vukicevic V⁴, Busse B⁵, Salbach-Hirsch J¹, Tuckermann JP⁶, Simon JC⁷, Anderegg U⁷, Hofbauer LC¹, Saalbach A⁸.

Abstract

Osteoporosis and obesity result from disturbed osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation and present emerging challenges for our aging society. Because of the regulatory role of Thy-1 in mesenchyme-derived fibroblasts, we investigated the impact of Thy-1 expression on mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) fate between osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation and consequences for bone formation and adipose tissue development in vivo. MSCs from Thy-1-deficient mice have decreased osteoblast differentiation and increased ogadipenic differentiation compared to MSCs from wild-type mice. Consistently, Thy-1-deficient mice exhibited decreased bone volume and bone formation rate with elevated cortical porosity, resulting in lower bone strength. In parallel, body weight, subcutaneous/epigonadal fat mass, and bone fat volume were increased. Thy-1 deficiency was accompanied by reduced expression of specific Wnt ligands with simultaneous increase of the Wnt inhibitors sclerostin and dickkopf-1 and an altered responsiveness to Wnt. We demonstrated that disturbed bone remodeling in osteoporosis and dysregulated adipose tissue accumulation in patients with obesity were mirrored by reduced serum Thy-1 concentrations. Our findings provide new insights into the mutual regulation of bone formation and obesity and open new perspectives to monitor and to interfere with the dysregulated balance of adipogenesis and osteogenesis in obesity and osteoporosis.