Gingival fibroblasts produce paracrine signals that affect osteoclastogenesis in vitro

In periodontitis, gingival fibroblasts (GF) appear to produce a multitude of paracrine factors. However, the influence of GF-derived soluble factors on osteoclastogenesis remains unclear. In this case study, production of paracrine factors by GF was assessed under inflammatory and non-inflammatory conditions, as well as their effect on osteoclastogenesis. Human primary GF were cultured in a transwell system and primed with a cocktail of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α to mimic inflammation. GF were co-cultured directly and indirectly with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Cytokines and chemokines in supernatants (flow cytometry based multiplex assay), osteoclastogenesis (TRAcP staining) and gene expression (qPCR) were quantified on days 7 and 21.

Results from this case study showed that GF communicated via soluble factors with PBMC resulting in a two-fold induction of osteoclasts. Reversely, PBMC induced gene expression of IL-6, OPG and MCP-1 by GF. Remarkably, after priming of GF with cytokines, this communication was impaired and resulted in fewer osteoclasts. This could be partly explained by an increase in IL-10 expression and a decrease in MCP-1 expression. Intriguingly, the short priming of GF resulted in significantly higher expression of inflammatory cytokines that was sustained at both 7 and 21 days.

GF appear to produce paracrine factors capable of stimulating osteoclastogenesis in the absence of physical cell-cell interactions. GF cultured in the presence of PBMC or osteoclasts had a remarkably inflammatory phenotype. Given profound expression of both pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines after the inflammatory stimulus, it is probably the effector hierarchy that leads to fewer osteoclasts.