In an attempt to study the roles of G-protein stimulatory subunit α (G
sα) in osteoblasts, we introduced an expression vector encoding G
sα into human osteoblastic cell line SaOS-2, and established the clones stably overexpressing G
sα (SaOS-2-G
sα). In SaOS-2-G
sα, the intracellular content of cyclic AMP (cAMP) was increased compared with the parental SaOS-2 cells. In addition, when treated with PTH[1-34], SaOS-2-G
sα exhibited more accumulation of intracellular cAMP compared with the parental cells, suggesting an increased responsiveness to PTH. We evaluated the proliferation rates of SaOS-2-G
sα and the parental SaOS-2 cells, and found that the proliferation was accelerated in SaOS-2-G
sα cells. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analyses exhibited the increased expression of Runx2, a transcription factor involved in osteoblast differentiation, in SaOS-2-G
sα cells. Finally, to examine the osteoblastic function
in vivo, we inoculated SaOS-2-G
sα or parental SaOS-2 cells subcutaneously to immunocompromised nude mice. Although tumors in nude mice were not formed after inoculation of parental SaOS-2 cells, SaOS-2-G
sα cells proliferated in host animals leading to the formation of tumors with mineralized bone-like tissues. Taken together, these results suggest that the signals via G
sα play critical roles in the proliferation and osteogenic functions of osteoblasts.
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