All the might of the osteocyte: emerging roles in chronic kidney disease

Lauren V Albrecht; Renata C Pereira; Isidro B Salusky

doi:10.1016/j.kint.2023.08.009

All the might of the osteocyte: emerging roles in chronic kidney disease

Kidney Int. 2023 Nov;104(5):910-915. doi: 10.1016/j.kint.2023.08.009. Epub 2023 Aug 28.

Authors

Lauren V Albrecht¹, Renata C Pereira², Isidro B Salusky³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA; Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA. Electronic address: l.albrecht@uci.edu.
² Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
³ Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA. Electronic address: isalusky@mednet.ucla.edu.

PMID: 37648154
DOI: 10.1016/j.kint.2023.08.009

Abstract

Osteocytes are the most abundant type of bone cell and play crucial roles in bone health. Osteocytes sense mechanical stress and orchestrate osteoblasts and osteoclasts to maintain bone density and strength. Beyond this, osteocytes have also emerged as key regulators of organ crosstalk, and they function as endocrine organs via their roles in secreting factors that mediate signaling within their neighboring bone cells and in distant tissues. As such, osteocyte dysfunction has been associated with the bone abnormalities seen across a spectrum of chronic kidney disease. Specifically, dysregulated osteocyte morphology and signaling have been observed in the earliest stages of chronic kidney disease and have been suggested to contribute to kidney disease progression. More important, US Food and Drug Administration-approved inhibitors of osteocytic secreted proteins, such as fibroblast growth factor 23 and sclerostin, have been used to treat bone diseases. The present mini review highlights new research that links dysfunctional osteocytes to the pathogenesis of chronic kidney disease mineral and bone disorder.

Keywords: CKD-MBD; kidney-induced osteoporosis; osteocytic proteins.