Bone loss after ovariectomy is comparable in the presence (left) or absence (right) of T cells.

ERBEN

Low estrogen—during menopause in women or induced by ovary removal in rodents—causes osteoporosis. Roberto Pacifici (Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA) has put the blame for this bone loss squarely on T cells and, at the meeting, he provided corroborating evidence. But new data from Reinhold Erben (University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria) seems to exonerate these cells.

Perhaps the strongest evidence that T cells cause bone loss when estrogen is in short supply comes from T cell–deficient (“nude”) mice. In past studies, Pacifici and colleagues showed that nude mice—unlike wild-type mice—do not develop osteoporosis when their ovaries are removed. Bone loss kicks in when T cells are transferred into the mice. This effect depends on T cell production of the cytokine TNF, which causes stromal cells...

The Rockefeller University Press
2006
The Rockefeller University Press
2006
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