The endocannabinoid system and retinoic acid signaling combine to influence bone growth

Enhanced efficiency of calcium-derived oleoyl serine on osteoporosis via Wnt/β-catenin pathway

Osteoporosis is a common disease of the elderly that affects millions of patients worldwide. It is mainly characterized by low bone mineral density and increased risk of fracture due to the deterioration of the bone structure, leading to difficulties in functional recovery, reduced quality of life, increased disability risk and mortality in the population. It has already been a major public health problem. Osteoporosis is a chronic disease that is difficult to treat in the elderly population, so it is crucial to develop new drugs for the treatment of osteoporosis. Oleoyl serine, an endogenous fatty acyl amide found in bone, has been shown to have excellent anti-osteoporosis effects, but it is easily hydrolyzed by amidases in vivo. The aim of this study is to determine the anti-osteoporotic effect of calcium-derived oleoyl serine, a novel oleoyl serine derivative and the molecular mechanism underneath. In vitro experiments demonstrated that calcium-derived oleoyl serine suppressed the expression of Fabp4, and Cebpα while Alp, and Runx2 was significantly upregulated compared with the oleoyl serine group and control. With the activation of β-catenin, calcium-derived oleoyl serine restored the abnormal osteogenesis and lipogenesis, indicating calcium-derived oleoyl serine compared with oleoyl serine has better effects on promoting osteogenesis and suppressing lipogenesis. In vivo experiment agreed with these findings that calcium-derived oleoyl serine promotes osteogenesis and suppresses its lipogenesis to ameliorate osteoporosis via a β-catenin dependent method. It is a new candidate for treating osteoporosis.

CB2 Receptor as Emerging Anti-Inflammatory Target in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a very severe X-linked dystrophinopathy. It is due to a mutation in the DMD gene and causes muscular degeneration in conjunction with several secondary co-morbidities, such cardiomyopathy and respiratory failure. DMD is characterized by a chronic inflammatory state, and corticosteroids represent the main therapy for these patients. To contradict drug-related side effects, there is need for novel and more safe therapeutic strategies. Macrophages are immune cells stringently involved in both physiological and pathological inflammatory processes. They express the CB2 receptor, one of the main elements of the endocannabinoid system, and have been proposed as an anti-inflammatory target in several inflammatory and immune diseases. We observed a lower expression of the CB2 receptor in DMD-associated macrophages, hypothesizing its involvement in the pathogenesis of this pathology. Therefore, we analyzed the effect of JWH-133, a CB2 receptor selective agonist, on DMD-associated primary macrophages. Our study describes the beneficial effect of JWH-133 in counteracting inflammation by inhibiting pro-inflammatory cytokines release and by directing macrophages' phenotype toward the M2 anti-inflammatory one.

H2O2/NIR-sensitive "two-step" nano theranostic system based hollow mesoporous copper sulfide/hyaluronic acid/JWH133 as an optimally designed delivery system for multidimensional treatment of RA

Cannabinoid receptors are widely distributed in many cells in Rheumatoid arthritis RA and strengthening factor to boost the development of RA diseases. Here, the hollow mesoporous copper sulfide (CuS) was used as the carrier skeleton and the cannabinoid type 2 (CB2) receptor agonist JWH133 was efficiently loaded inside of CuS through adsorption, then the outer layer was modified with hyaluronic acid (HA) to prevent the leakage of internal drugs. After the CuS-JWH133@HA nano carrier reached the target area, HA responsive cracked under RA microenvironment to realize the first step of accurate drug delivery of JWH133, and the thermally responsive CuS under near-infrared (NIR) promoted the release of internal drugs. Then, JWH133 specifically combined CB2 receptors on the surface of macrophage, synovial cells and osteoblasts to realize the second step of drug delivery. The inflammatory factors secreted by cells are significantly inhibited, and the activity of osteoblasts was significantly enhanced. Therapeutic effect by CuS-JWH133@HA of RA was well verified by decreasing levels of inflammation in vivo and improvement of inflamed and swollen joints of mice. The CuS-JWH133@HA nanocomposite showed satisfactory multidimensional therapeutic effect of RA in vitro and in vivo, which provided a novel idea for RA treatment.