ArticleFrontiers in cell and developmental biology2026
Distinct osteoclast transcriptional states and heterotypic fusion arising from circulating pre-dendritic cells and monocytes.
Article in Frontiers in cell and developmental biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Osteoclasts (OCs) are multinucleated bone-resorbing cells essential for bone remodelling and contribute to pathological bone loss in inflammatory and metabolic bone diseases. Although classically considered to arise from monocyte/macrophage precursors, circulating pre-dendritic cells (pre-DCs) also retain osteoclastogenic potential. However, whether OCs derived from these distinct precursors retain different transcriptional states, and how they interact during fusion, remain unclear. Here, we compared OCs generated from directly isolated circulating monocytes and pre-DCs and investigated how these populations contribute to OC formation and fusion within mixed cultures. RNA sequencing identified 41 genes significantly enriched in pre-DC-derived OCs and 9 in monocyte-derived OCs, while core osteoclastogenic and fusion-associated genes showed no significant differential expression. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) identified distinct precursor-associated transcriptional programmes. Pre-DC-derived OCs were enriched for extracellular matrix organisation, skeletal development, canonical Wnt signalling and immune-regulatory pathways, whereas monocyte-derived OCs were enriched for cell-cycle, proteasomal, lysosomal and innate immune pathways. In mixed cultures, OC output increased with the proportion of pre-DCs, with the greatest OC formation observed in pre-DC-only cultures. Live-cell imaging demonstrated heterotypic fusion, with monocyte-derived precursors observed fusing with established pre-DC-derived multinucleated OCs, whereas exclusively monocyte-derived multinucleated OCs were infrequently observed. These findings indicate that both populations generate OCs with a conserved core transcriptional profile but distinct precursor-associated transcriptional states. Greater pre-DC abundance was associated with increased OC output, and live-cell imaging showed that monocyte-derived cells can be incorporated into pre-DC-derived multinucleated OCs. This heterogeneity may influence OC abundance, multinucleation, and functional properties in inflammatory and metabolic bone diseases.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.