Spontaneous release of interleukin 1 from human blood monocytes reflects bone formation in idiopathic osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a state of reduced skeletal mass characterized by various rates of bone remodeling. Multiple locally elaborated factors have been identified that appear to influence the cellular events in bone remodeling. The possible role(s) of these factors in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis is unknown. One such factor, interleukin 1 (IL-1), is of particular interest, as this protein is known to stimulate bone resorption and perhaps formation. Consequently, we have measured the spontaneous secretion of IL-1 activity by cultured peripheral blood monocytes obtained from 22 osteoporotic patients and 14 age-matched control subjects. Monocytes from osteoporotic patients produced more IL-1 than did monocytes from control subjects. When patients were grouped according to monocyte-produced IL-1 activity, dynamic parameters of bone formation, as judged by quantitative histomorphometric analysis of iliac crest bone biopsies and by circulating levels of bone 4-carboxyglutamic acid protein (BGP)--a marker of bone formation--were higher in subjects with elevated IL-1 activity; whereas, indices of bone resorption and static indices of bone formation were similar in subjects with either high or normal IL-1 activity. IL-1 activity released by peripheral blood monocytes appears to reflect bone formation rate in osteoporotic patients and may be of pathogenetic significance in a subset of individuals with osteoporosis.