Dose-dependent effects of phytoestrogens on bone

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Phytoestrogens have the potential to maintain bone health and delay or prevent osteoporosis. This review focuses on their dose-dependent effects on bone and their possible mechanisms of action. Phytoestrogens exert biphasic dose-dependent effects on osteoblasts and osteoprogenitor cells, stimulating osteogenesis at low concentrations and inhibiting osteogenesis at high concentrations. They inhibit osteoclast formation and activity. Recent data show that the balance between estrogen receptors and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors, which are dose-dependently activated by phytoestrogens, determines their biological effects on bone. This review provides a new understanding of the mechanism of action of phytoestrogens and could be important for future studies to find precise beneficial doses in vivo and in clinical trials.

Introduction

Phytoestrogens are plant-derived non-steroidal compounds that bind to estrogen receptors (ERs) and have estrogen-like activity [1]. They have attracted much attention among public and medical communities because of their potential beneficial role in prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, diabetes and obesity, menopausal symptoms, renal diseases and various cancers 2, 3. They can provide health benefits only when consumed at sufficient levels [1]; conversely, they have been categorized as endocrine disruptors that cause environmental problems and deleterious effects on reproductive systems [4]. Some phytoestrogens are well known enzyme inhibitors [5] but their biological effects differ from those of estrogen, antiestrogen and tyrosine kinase inhibitors [6]. Therefore, identifying their molecular mechanisms of action is essential for understanding both the beneficial and adverse effects of phytoestrogens.

Proposed molecular mechanisms are based on their ER-mediated and/or enzyme-inhibiting effects. ER-mediated action has focused on the preferential binding of phytoestrogens to ERβ, which acts as a dominant-negative regulator of estrogen signalling 7, 8. Some phytoestrogens inhibit tyrosine kinases, and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), which are crucial for cellular functions [5]. However, the biological effects of phytoestrogens cannot be fully explained by these mechanisms [6].

We recently identified peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) as additional molecular targets of phytoestrogens 9, 10. PPARs are crucial targets in many Western diseases [11] in which phytoestrogens appear to have beneficial effects. Regardless of their enzyme inhibitory actions, phytoestrogens can dose-dependently activate PPARs and induce divergent effects on osteogenesis and adipogenesis. As a result, the balance between concurrently activated ERs and PPARs determines the dose-dependent biological effects of phytoestrogens. As shown in our studies, dominant ER-mediated effects (an increase in osteogenesis and a decrease in adipogenesis) can only be seen at low concentrations of phytoestrogens, whereas dominant PPARγ-mediated effects (a decrease in osteogenesis and an increase in adipogenesis) are only evident at high concentrations. Therefore, the dose-dependent effects of phytoestrogens on bone should be emphasized. Furthermore, even when phytoestrogens exert dominant ER- or PPARγ-mediated effects, their pleiotropic actions exist in a wide range of concentrations. For example, the major phytoestrogen genistein at a physiologically obtainable concentration of 5 μM exerted typical estrogenic effects in osteoprogenitor KS483 cells – upregulation of osteogenesis and downregulation of adipogenesis 9, 12. However, when ERs were blocked by the antiestrogen compound ICI182780 (AstraZeneca, www.astrazeneca.com), genistein downregulated osteogenesis and upregulated adipogenesis (Figure 1). These results suggest that genistein at 5 μM concurrently activated both ERs and PPARγ [9]. This review highlights these pleiotropic actions and the implications for finding precise beneficial doses in vivo and in clinical trials.

Section snippets

Phytoestrogens

Phytoestrogens are divided into three classes: isoflavones, coumestans and lignans. In addition, some flavonoids, such as apigenin, quercetin, kaempferol and naringenin, are also classed as phytoestrogens [1]. The most extensively studied phytoestrogens are isoflavones, which are found in high concentrations in soybeans (∼0.2–1.6 mg g−1 dry weight) [1]. Depending on diet, human plasma concentrations of isoflavones can vary by more than 100-fold, and can reach 6 μM [1]. Rodent diets used in

Dose-dependent effects of isoflavones on bone in vitro

Isoflavones stimulate osteogenesis at low concentrations and inhibit osteogenesis at high concentrations in osteoblasts and osteoprogenitor cells 9, 10. Isoflavones also influence the production of cytokines derived from osteoblasts and osteoprogenitor cells in a similar biphasic manner [15]. By contrast, bone resorption data show that, instead of having biphasic effects, isoflavones only inhibit osteoclast formation and activity [16].

Effects of isoflavones on bone in vivo

Biphasic dose-dependent responses have also been seen in vivo, suggesting that isoflavones might influence bone formation rather than bone resorption [1]. There are also data indicating that isoflavones affect both bone formation and bone resorption [16]. Owing to the limited dose selection, time and length of exposure, and different responses in various models, it is not surprising that some experiments showed bone-sparing effects, whereas others did not, or even showed contradictory results 1

ER-mediated actions

Isoflavones bind to both ERα and ERβ with different affinities. They bind to ERα with an affinity that is ∼100 times lower than that of E2. By contrast, there is a great difference in their binding affinities for ERβ. With the exception of genistein, which has a similar binding affinity for ERβ to that of E2, isoflavones have a lower affinity for ERβ 45, 46. However, the binding affinity is unlikely to account entirely for distinct transcriptional actions [8].

ERα mediates most actions of

Conclusions

Biphasic dose-dependent effects of phytoestrogens are the result of the concurrent activation of ERs and PPARs, which produce divergent actions in the same cell–tissue system (Figure 4). This molecular mechanism can explain the dose-dependent effects of phytoestrogens with or without enzyme-inhibiting action. Although this mechanism was proposed on the basis of observations in bone, it could also apply to other cellular systems. Indeed, using ER-positive or negative MCF7, T47D and MDA-231

Acknowledgements

We thank S.E. Papapoulos and J.A. Romijn for their critical reading of this manuscript.

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