Research Paper Volume 14, Issue 2 pp 892—906
The effect of QiangGuYin on osteoporosis through the AKT/mTOR/autophagy signaling pathway mediated by CKIP-1
- 1 The Second Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China
- 2 Department of Osteology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China
- 3 Department of Orthopedics, Huzhou Central Hospital, Huzhou, China
Received: July 1, 2021 Accepted: November 22, 2021 Published: January 24, 2022
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.203848How to Cite
Copyright: © 2022 Yuan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Osteoporosis is a systemic bone disease characterized by decreased bone mass and deterioration of bone microstructure, which leads to increased bone fragility and increased risk of fractures. Casein kinase 2 interacting protein 1 (CKIP-1, also known as PLEKHO1) is involved in the biological process of bone formation, differentiation and apoptosis, and is a negative regulator of bone formation. QiangGuYin (QGY) is a famous TCM formula that has been widely used in China for the clinical treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis for decades, but the effect in regulating CKIP-1 on osteoporosis is not fully understood. This study aimed to explore the potential mechanism of CKIP-1 participating in autophagy in bone cells through the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway and the regulatory effect of QGY. The results in vivo showed that QGY treatment can significantly improve the bone quality of osteoporotic rats, down-regulate the expression of CKIP-1, LC3II/I and RANKL, and up-regulated the expression of p62, p-AKT/AKT, p-mTOR/mTOR, RUNX2 and OPG. It is worth noting that the results in vitro confirmed that CKIP-1 interacts with AKT. By up-regulating the expression of Atg5 and down-regulating the p62, the level of LC3 (autophagosome) is increased, and the cells osteogenesis and differentiation are inhibited. QGY inhibits the combination of CKIP-1 and AKT in osteoblasts, activates the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, inhibits autophagy, and promotes cell differentiation, thereby exerting an anti-osteoporosis effect. Therefore, QGY targeting CKIP-1 to regulate the AKT/mTOR-autophagy signaling pathway may represent a promising drug candidate for the treatment of osteoporosis.