Tumor necrosis factor-α cooperates with receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand in generation of osteoclasts in stromal cell-depleted rat bone marrow cell culture

A member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family, receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL; also known as ODF, OPGL, and TRANCE), plays critical roles in osteoclast differentiation and activation in the presence of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF). Recently, TNF-α has also been shown to induce the formation of multinucleated osteoclast-like cells (MNCs) in the presence of M-CSF from mouse macrophages. We demonstrated that mononuclear preosteoclast-like cells (POCs) were formed in the presence of conditioned medium of osteoblastic cells in a rat bone marrow culture depleted of stromal cells. Using this culture system, in this study we examined whether TNF-α affects differentiation into POCs from hematopoietic progenitor cells. Human TNF-α (hTNF-α) markedly stimulated the formation of POCs. Moreover, a concentration as low as 0.005 ng/mL of hTNF-α increased the level of mRNA for calcitonin receptor (CTR) and cathepsin-K of POCs. The POCs induced by hTNF-α formed MNCs, which showed dentine-resorbing activity after coculture with primary osteoblasts. Stimulation was observed after 24 h of treatment with hTNF-α only on day 1 or day 2 of the culture. After 24 h of hTNF-α treatment, expression of the receptor activator of nuclear factor κB (RANK) mRNA was markedly increased. The addition of soluble RANKL (sRANKL) to the preformed POCs efficiently induced MNCs. Interestingly, treatment of bone marrow cells with hTNF-α and sRANKL synergistically augmented the formation of MNCs. This formation was abolished by the addition of human osteoprotegerin (hOPG). These results suggest that cooperation of TNF-α and RANKL is important for osteoclastogenesis.