Recently, it emerged that bone is an important endocrine organ that regulates energy metabolism through osteocalcin, a hormone that favours insulin secretion and sensitivity, and energy expenditure. According to the general rules of endocrinology, these observations suggested that insulin might in turn affect the endocrine function of bones. To address this issue, Ferron et al. engineered an osteoblast-specific insulin-receptor-deficient mouse model and demonstrated that maintenance of whole-body glucose homeostasis requires insulin signalling in osteoblasts. Insulin signalling in osteoblasts essentially hijacks the functional interaction that exists in bone between osteoblasts and osteoclasts. In osteoblasts, insulin signalling inhibits the expression of an inhibitor of bone resorption, thereby upregulating this function. Osteoclasts resorb bone under highly acidic conditions, providing a favourable environment for the activation of osteocalcin, which, in turn, stimulates insulin secretion. This mechanism occurs in mice and in humans. These results further underscore the tight relationship that has emerged recently between bone physiology and glucose homeostasis; they also have important implications for the treatment of diseases such as type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis.
Development/DMM Virtual Meeting 2021
Welcoming new Editors to DMM
Editor-in-Chief Liz Patton wants DMM to strengthen its presence in the field of translational biology and to focus on the importance of disease mechanisms, just as much as models. To implement this vision, we are pleased to welcome new Editors Sally Dunwoodie (Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Australia), Monkol Lek (Yale School of Medicine, USA) and Rickie Patani (Francis Crick Institute, London, UK) to the team.
Roles of the gut microbiome in colorectal cancer development
Going hand-in-hand, a new Perspective by Foegeding et al. explores the Western diet as a driver of dysbiosis in colorectal cancer while a new Review by Wang et al. focuses on microbiota-driven mechanisms that initiate sporadic colorectal cancer.
preLights – the latest disease modelling preprints
Head over to preLights for the digests of the latest preprints:
Erin McGregor highlights work by Nowicka et al. that suggests a potential connection between mitochondrial dysfunction and neurodegeneration.
Emma Wilson discusses work by Dagra et al., which highlights D2 receptors as a potential target that could be used to alleviate alpha-Synuclein pathology in Parkinson’s disease.
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