For whom the bell tolls: Distress signals from long-lived osteocytes and the pathogenesis of metabolic bone diseases

Osteocytes are long-lived and far more numerous than the short-lived osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Immured within the lacunar–canalicular system and mineralized matrix, osteocytes are ideally located throughout the bone to detect the need for, and accordingly choreograph, the bone regeneration process by independently controlling rate limiting steps of bone resorption and formation. Consistent with this role, emerging evidence indicates that signals arising from apoptotic and old/or dysfunctional osteocytes are seminal culprits in the pathogenesis of involutional, post-menopausal, steroid-, and immobilization-induced osteoporosis. Osteocyte-originated signals may also contribute to the increased bone fragility associated with bone matrix disorders like osteogenesis imperfecta, and perhaps the rapid reversal of bone turnover above baseline following discontinuation of anti-resorptive treatments, like denosumab. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "The Osteocyte".