Estrogen deficiency, T cells and bone loss

Estrogen plays a fundamental role in the maintenance of skeletal homeostasis. Although estrogen is established to have direct effects on bone cells, animal studies have identified additional regulatory effects of estrogen centered at the level of the adaptive immune response. Furthermore, a potential role for reactive oxygen species has now been identified in both humans and animals. One of the major challenges has been to integrate a multitude of redundant pathways and cytokines, that all appear capable of playing a relevant role, into a global model of postmenopausal osteoporosis. This review presents our current understanding of the process of estrogen deficiency mediated bone destruction and explores some of the most recent findings and hypotheses to explain estrogen action in bone.