IntroductionAn increasing number of studies underline the interactions between the bone and immune systems and have led to the emergence of osteoimmunology. 1,2 Excessive bone resorption is frequently associated with chronic infections and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. [3][4][5][6] The immune system plays a major role in this process, in particular through activated T cells, which secrete proinflammatory cytokines involved in osteoclastogenesis. 7 However, less is known about the involvement of other immune cells in the control of bone resorption. Dendritic cells (DCs) also play an important role in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. 8 These cells derive from the same myeloid precursor as osteoclasts (OCLs), and both cell types are modulated by common factors, mainly by receptor activator of NF-B ligand (RANK-L). RANK-L is essential for the differentiation of OCLs, 9 the activity and survival of DCs. 10 These data highlight a potential link between DCs and OCLs.Cells from the myelomonocytic lineage, including DCs, display a high developmental and functional plasticity depending on local factors and stimuli experienced during their differentiation and maturation. 11,12 Although they were considered to be terminally differentiated cells, recent studies have suggested that mature splenic DCs can be influenced by their microenvironment to undergo further differentiation. Splenic stromal cells induce mature DCs to differentiate into regulatory DCs, which differ from mature DCs by their phenotype, their cytokine secretion pattern, and their ability to inhibit T-cell proliferation. 13 Moreover, DCs generated in vitro transdifferentiate into endothelial cells when cultured with tumor-conditioned media 14 or into OCLs when cultured with osteoclastogenic factors. 15,16 Although these in vitro studies revealed the capacity of DCs to transdifferentiate into other cell types under specific conditions, it is not clear yet whether this plasticity takes place in vivo.Osteopetrosis is characterized by an impaired bone resorption because of the absence of OCL formation or activity. 17 In the osteopetrotic oc/oc mouse, differentiated OCLs are present but are unable to resorb bone because of a deletion in the Tcirg1 gene encoding the a3 subunit of the vacuolar ATPase. 18 The a3 protein is responsible for the acidification process necessary for the dissolution of the bone matrix leading to the formation of resorption lacunae. In the absence of a3 expression, the bone marrow of oc/oc mice is filled with numerous and disorganized trabeculae, and osteoclastogenesis is highly increased. 19,20 The consequence of this severe osteopetrotic phenotype is a life span less than 3 weeks. Therefore, the oc/oc mouse provides an appropriate model to assess the in vivo capacity of wild-type precursor cells to give rise to functional OCLs.To assess whether DCs have an osteoclastogenic potential, we purified them from normal mice and cultured them with RANK-L and macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF). We showed that this treatment a...