Parathyroid hormone and lipopolysaccharide induce murine osteoblast-like cells to secrete a cytokine indistinguishable from granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor.

Osteoblasts are the cells responsible for the secretion of collagen and ultimately the formation of new bone. These cells have also been shown to regulate osteoclast activity by the secretion of cytokines, which remain to be defined. In an attempt to identify these unknown cytokines, we have induced primary murine osteoblasts with two bone active agents, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and analyzed the conditioned media (CM) for the presence of specific cytokines. Analysis of the CM was accomplished by functional, biochemical, and serological techniques. The data indicate that both PTH and LPS are capable of inducing the osteoblasts to secrete a cytokine, which by all of the techniques used, is indistinguishable from granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Secretion of GM-CSF is not constitutive and requires active induction. Production of the cytokine is dependent on the dose of PTH or LPS added. It has been demonstrated that the addition of GM-CSF to bone marrow cultures results in the formation of increased numbers of osteoclasts. Therefore, these data suggest that osteoblasts not only participate in bone remodeling by formation of new matrix but may regulate osteoclast activity indirectly by their ability to regulate hematopoiesis.