Abstract
Several studies have indicated that PAPSS2 (3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate synthetase 2) activity is important to normal skeletal development. Mouse PAPSS2 is predominantly expressed during the formation of the skeleton and cartilaginous elements of the mouse embryo and in newborn mice. However, the role and mechanism of PAPSS2 in bone formation remains largely unidentified. By analyzing the expression pattern of the PAPSS2 gene, we have found that PAPSS2 is expressed in bone tissue and bone formation. PAPSS2 transcripts increase during osteoblast differentiation and are in less level in RANKL-induced osteoclast like cells. By using lentivirus-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) technology, we knocked down PAPSS2 expression in MC3T3-E1 osteoblast. Silencing of PAPSS2 expression significantly decreases ALP activity and cell mineralization, inhibits expression of osteoblast marker osteopontin (OPN) and collagen I. Conversely, overexpression of PAPSS2 promotes the MC3T3-E1 to differentiate into osteoblast and mineralization. Moreover, compared to that in the control cells, the mRNA level and protein expression of phosphorylated Smad 2/3, which is a key transcriptional factor in the Smad osteoblast differentiation pathway, showed significant decreases in PAPSS2-silenced cells and increases in PAPSS2-overexpression cells. These results suggest that PAPSS2 might regulate osteoblast ALP activity and cell mineralization, probably through Smads signal pathways.