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Updated: Jun 25, 2025

A Novel in vivo Gene Transfer Technique and in vitro Cell Based Assays for the Study of Bone Loss in Musculoskeletal Disorders
Published on: June 8, 2014
O-GlcNAcylation: roles and potential therapeutic target for bone pathophysiology
Xiaohan Yan1,2,3, Jingjing Zheng1,4, Wenhao Ren1,3
1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Reconstruction, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266555, China.
None:
O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) protein modification (O-GlcNAcylation) is a critical post-translational modification (PTM) of cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins. O-GlcNAcylation levels are regulated by the activity of two enzymes, O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O‑GlcNAcase (OGA). While OGT attaches O-GlcNAc to proteins, OGA removes O-GlcNAc from proteins. Since its discovery, researchers have demonstrated O-GlcNAcylation on thousands of proteins implicated in numerous different biological processes. Moreover, dysregulation of O-GlcNAcylation has been associated with several pathologies, including cancers, ischemia-reperfusion injury, and neurodegenerative diseases. In this review, we focus on progress in our understanding of the role of O-GlcNAcylation in bone pathophysiology, and we discuss the potential molecular mechanisms of O-GlcNAcylation modulation of bone-related diseases. In addition, we explore significant advances in the identification of O-GlcNAcylation-related regulators as potential therapeutic targets, providing novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of bone-related disorders.
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