Is cathepsin K truly involved in bone resorption?

Optimizing dentin bond durability: control of collagen degradation by matrix metalloproteinases and cysteine cathepsins

OBJECTIVES

Contemporary adhesives lose their bond strength to dentin regardless of the bonding system used. This loss relates to the hydrolysis of collagen matrix of the hybrid layers. The preservation of the collagen matrix integrity is a key issue in the attempts to improve the dentin bonding durability.

METHODS

Dentin contains collagenolytic enzymes, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and cysteine cathepsins, which are responsible for the hydrolytic degradation of collagen matrix in the bonded interface.

RESULTS

The identities, roles and function of collagenolytic enzymes in mineralized dentin has been gathered only within last 15 years, but they have already been demonstrated to have an important role in dental hard tissue pathologies, including the degradation of the hybrid layer. Identifying responsible enzymes facilitates the development of new, more efficient methods to improve the stability of dentin-adhesive bond and durability of bond strength.

SIGNIFICANCE

Understanding the nature and role of proteolytic degradation of dentin-adhesive interfaces has improved immensely and has practically grown to a scientific field of its own within only 10 years, holding excellent promise that stable resin-dentin bonds will be routinely available in a daily clinical setting already in a near future.

Cathepsin K knockout mice develop osteopetrosis due to a deficit in matrix degradation but not demineralization

Cathepsin K is a cysteine protease expressed predominantly in osteoclasts. Activated cathepsin K cleaves key bone matrix proteins and is believed to play an important role in degrading the organic phase of bone during bone resorption. Mutations in the human cathepsin K gene have been demonstrated to be associated with a rare skeletal dysplasia, pycnodysostosis. The degree of functional activity of the mutated forms of cathepsin K in these individuals has not been elucidated, but is predicted to be low or absent. To study the role of cathepsin K in bone resorption, we have generated mice deficient in the cathepsin K gene. Histologic and radiographic analysis of the mice revealed osteopetrosis of the long bones and vertebrae, and abnormal joint morphology. X-ray microcomputerized tomography images allowed quantitation of the increase in bone volume, trabecular thickness, and trabecular number in both the primary spongiosa and the metaphysis of the proximal tibiae. Not all bones were similarly affected. Chondrocyte differentiation was normal. The mice also had abnormalities in hematopoietic compartments, particularly decreased bone marrow cellularity and splenomegaly. The heterozygous animals appeared normal. Close histologic examination of bone histology revealed fully differentiated osteoclasts apposed to small regions of demineralized bone. This strongly suggests that cathepsin K-deficient osteoclasts are capable of demineralizing the extracellular matrix but are unable to adequately remove the demineralized bone. This is entirely consistent with the proposed function of cathepsin K as a matrix-degrading proteinase in bone resorption.

Localization of rat cathepsin K in osteoclasts and resorption pits: inhibition of bone resorption and cathepsin K-activity by peptidyl vinyl sulfones

We have localized cathepsin K in rat osteoclasts and within exposed resorption pits by immuno-fluorescence microscopy. Intracellular staining using an antibody raised against recombinant mouse cathepsin K was vesicular and uniformly distributed throughout the cell. Confocal microscopy analysis did not reveal an accumulation of cathepsin K containing vesicles opposing the ruffled border and the resorption lacuna. Exposed resorption pits exhibited a uniform distribution of cathepsin K, and no differences were observed between the edges and the centers of the pits. The immunostaining of resorption pits with anti-cathepsin K antibodies demonstrates that the protease is secreted into the sub-osteoclastic compartment. Cathepsin K-specific inhibition using peptidyl vinyl sulfones as selective cysteine protease inactivators reduced bone resorption by 80% in a dose-dependent manner at sub-micromolar concentrations. No reduction of bone resorption was observed at those low concentrations using a potent cathepsin L, S, B-specific inhibitor. That the inhibition of bone resorption can be attributed to cathepsin K-like protease inhibition was corroborated by the selective inhibition of the osteoclastic Z-Gly-Pro-Arg-MbetaNA hydrolyzing activity by the cathepsin K, L, S, B-inhibitor, but not by the cathepsin L, B, and S inhibitor. Z-Gly-Pro-Arg-MbetaNA is efficiently hydrolyzed by cathepsin K but only poorly by cathepsins L, S, and B. On the contrary, the intracellular hydrolysis of the cathepsin B-specific substrate, Z-Arg-Arg-MbetaNA, was prevented by both types of inhibitors. The identification of cathepsin K in resorption pits and the inhibition of bone resorption and intracellular cathepsin K activity by selective vinyl sulfone inhibitors indicate the critical role of the protease in osteoclastic bone resorption.