Aromatase expression in a human osteoblastic cell line increases in response to prostaglandin E(2) in a dexamethasone-dependent fashion

Recent progress supports the importance of local estrogen secretion in human bone tissue to increase and maintain bone-mineral density. In a previous report, we found that forskolin (FSK) synergistically induces aromatase (CYP19: a rate-limiting enzyme for estrogen synthesis) expression in dexamethasone (Dex) dependent manner in a human osteoblastic cell line, SV-HFO Watanabe M, Ohno S, Nakajin S. Forskolin and dexamethasone synergistically induce aromatase (CYP19) expression in the human osteoblastic cell line SV-HFO. Eur J Endocrinol 2005;152:619-24]. In this report, we investigated whether prostaglandin (PG) E(2) induces estrogen production, in other words, if PGE(2) exerts the same effect as FSK because PGE(2) is the major prostanoid in the bone and is one of the key molecules in the osteoblast. We found PGE(2) up-regulates aromatase activity synergistically, but this up-regulation depends on Dex. CYP19 gene expression was also increased synergistically by Dex and PGE(2). Promoter I.4 was activated synergistically by PGE(2) and Dex. PGE(2) receptor, EP(1), EP(2) and EP(4) were involved in the up-regulation of aromatase activity in response to PGE(2) in a Dex-dependent manner. The cAMP-PKA pathway and Ca(2+) signaling pathway were involved in the up-regulation of aromatase activity in response to PGE(2). Furthermore, glucocorticoid response element on promoter I.4 sequence was an essential minimum requirement for its activity and synergism of PGE(2) and Dex. These findings are the first report on osteoblastic cell line which uses predominantly promoter I.4 to drive aromatase expression. These findings also suggest that endogenous PGE(2) produced in bone mainly may synergistically support local estrogen production in osteoblastic cells in the presence of glucocorticoid.