ABSTRACT
The development and maintenance of the skeleton depends on the equilibrated action of bone constructing cells and bone resorbing cells. The balance between bone formation by osteoblasts and bone resorption by osteoclasts is essential for bone homeostasis. Impairment of this balance results in bone pathologies such as osteoporosis, Paget’s disease and osteopetrosis, as well as diseases of immune nature, such as rheumatoid arthritis and periodontal disease (Rodan and Martin 2000). Much of this balance lies in the scheduled expression of specifi c gene sets that control proliferation and differentiation of osteoblast and osteoclast precursor cells. c-Jun protein, a member of the AP-1 transcription factor, is one of the key regulators of the expression of these genes.
