bInsulin signaling in osteoblasts contributes to whole-body glucose homeostasis in the mouse and in humans by increasing the activity of osteocalcin. The osteoblast insulin signaling cascade is negatively regulated by ESP, a tyrosine phosphatase dephosphorylating the insulin receptor. Esp is one of many tyrosine phosphatases expressed in osteoblasts, and this observation suggests that other protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) may contribute to the attenuation of insulin receptor phosphorylation in this cell type. In this study, we sought to identify an additional PTP(s) that, like ESP, would function in the osteoblast to regulate insulin signaling and thus affect activity of the insulin-sensitizing hormone osteocalcin. For that purpose, we used as criteria expression in osteoblasts, regulation by isoproterenol, and ability to trap the insulin receptor in a substrate-trapping assay. Here we show that the T-cell protein tyrosine phosphatase (TC-PTP) regulates insulin receptor phosphorylation in the osteoblast, thus compromising bone resorption and bioactivity of osteocalcin. Accordingly, osteoblast-specific deletion of TC-PTP promotes insulin sensitivity in an osteocalcin-dependent manner. This study increases the number of genes involved in the bone regulation of glucose homeostasis.
The tenuous cross talk existing between bone remodeling and energy metabolism was first demonstrated in vivo through the realization that leptin, an adipocyte-derived hormone, inhibits both appetite (23,25,44) and bone mass accrual (16). The existence of this cross talk was then further substantiated by the observation that, in turn, osteoblasts regulate whole-body glucose metabolism through secretion of the hormone osteocalcin, which favors insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity and increases energy expenditure (20,33,37).Like other peptide hormones, osteocalcin undergoes significant posttranslational modification before being released into general circulation (29, 45). Specifically, osteocalcin, which is secreted by osteoblasts as a ␥-carboxylated protein, must be decarboxylated to become activated and able to fulfill its endocrine functions (33). This activation of osteocalcin has been shown to occur outside the osteoblast, in the bone resorption lacunae (21). As the only mechanism known for decarboxylating proteins outside the cell is incubating them at an acidic pH, the passage of osteocalcin through the acidic microenvironment of the resorption lacunae allows it to become decarboxylated and thus activated (18, 21). In effect, the resorbing function of osteoclasts favors glucose homeostasis by activating osteocalcin (21).In addition to being an endocrine cell, the osteoblast receives many endocrine signals, one of them being insulin. Among other functions, insulin signaling in osteoblast inhibits the expression of Opg, a gene encoding a decoy receptor for the RANKL osteoclast differentiation factor. As a consequence, insulin signals to the osteoblast to promote bone resorption and osteocalcin bioactivity, and thereby its own...