Doxorubicin restrains osteogenesis and promotes osteoclastogenesis in vitro

Clinical evidence suggests that doxorubicin (DOX), as a chemotherapeutic drug, can induce severe bone damage in cancer patients. However, the effect of DOX on osteoporosis has not been fully elucidated. Therefore our study aims to investigate the effect and mechanism of DOX in osteoporosis. In our study, we co-cultured rat BMSCs with different concentrations of DOX solution, then the osteogenic differentiation markers and proliferation ability were analyzed. The results indicated that a certain concentration of the DOX solution may restrain the osteogenic differentiation of rat BMSCs by bmp-2/smads signalling pathway. Also, we found DOX promoted the receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclast formation. Our research explains excellently the induce-osteoporotic mechanism of DOX in vitro, which maybe contributing to the exploration of a new way to prevent osteoporosis caused by chemotherapy.