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Thyroid-stimulating hormone, thyroid hormones, and bone loss

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Abstract

It has become accepted by virtue of rich anecdotal experience and clinical research that thyrotoxicosis is associated with high-turnover osteoporosis. The bone loss, primarily due to accelerated resorption that is not compensated by a coupled increase in bone formation, has been attributed solely to elevated thyroid hormone levels. Evidence using mice lacking the thyroid hormone receptors α and β establishes a role for thyroid hormones in regulating bone remodeling but does not exclude an independent action of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), levels of which are low in hyperthyroid states, even when thyroid hormones are normal, as after thyroxine supplementation and in subclinical hyperthyroidism. We show that TSH directly suppresses bone remodeling and that TSH receptor null mice have profound bone loss, suggesting that reduced TSH signaling contributes to hyperthyroid osteoporosis. TSH and its receptor could become valuable drug targets in treating bone loss.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mount Sinai Bone Program, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    Mone Zaidi

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  1. Mone Zaidi
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  2. Terry F. Davies
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  3. Alberta Zallone
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  4. Harry C. Blair
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  5. Jameel Iqbal
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  6. Surinder S. Moonga
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  7. Jeffrey Mechanick
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  8. Li Sun
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Correspondence to Mone Zaidi.

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Zaidi, M., Davies, T.F., Zallone, A. et al. Thyroid-stimulating hormone, thyroid hormones, and bone loss. Curr Osteoporos Rep 7, 47–52 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11914-009-0009-0

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