Title:The Regulatory Role of Rho GTPases and their Substrates in Osteoclastogenesis
Volume: 22
Issue: 9
Author(s): Lin Gao, Lingbo Kong and Yuanting Zhao*
Affiliation:
- Department of Spine Surgery, Honghui Hospital, School of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University,China
Keywords:
Rac1, Rac2, Dock5, osteoclastogenesis, bone homeostasis, molecules.
Abstract: Pathological bone loss diseases (osteolysis, Paget’s diseases) are commonly caused by
the excessive differentiation and activity of osteoclasts. The Rho GTPases family members Rac1/2
(Rac1 and Rac2) have been reported for their special role in exerting multiple cellular functions
during osteoclastic differentiation, which includes the most prominent function on dynamic actin
cytoskeleton rearranging. Besides that, the increasing studies demonstrated that the regulating effects
of Rac1/2 on the osteoclastic cytoskeletal organization are through the GEFs member Dock5.
Although the amount of relevant studies on this topic is still limited, several excellent studies have
been reported that extensively explored the molecular mechanisms involved in Rac1/2 and Dock5
during the osteoclastogenesis regulation, as well as their role as the therapeutic target in bone loss
diseases. Herein, in this review, we aim to focus on recent advances studies for extensively understanding
the role of Rho GTPases Rac1/2 and Dock5 in osteoclastogenesis, as well as their role as a
potential therapeutic target in regulating osteoclastogenesis.
