Abstract
Osteoporosis is a metabolic disease affecting 40% of postmenopausal women. It is characterized by decreased bone mass per unit volume and increased risk of fracture. We investigated the molecular mechanism underlying osteoporosis by identifying the genes involved in its development. Osteoporosis-related genes were identified by analyzing RNA microarray data in the GEO database to detect genes differentially expressed in osteoporotic and healthy individuals. Enrichment and protein interaction analyses carried out to identify the hub genes among the deferentially expressed genes revealed TP53, MAPK1, CASP3, CTNNB1, CCND1, NOTCH1, CDK1, IGF1, ERBB2, CYCS to be the top 10 hub genes. In addition, p53 had the highest degree score in the protein-protein interaction network. In vivo and in vitro experiments showed that TP53 gene expression and serum p53 levels were upregulated in osteoporotic patients and a mouse osteoporosis model. The elevated p53 levels were associated with decreases in bone mass, which could be partially reversed by knocking down p53. These findings suggest p53 may play a central role in the development of osteoporosis.