Osteoclasts are multinucleated cells with the unique ability to resorb bone matrix. Excessive production or activation of osteoclasts leads to skeletal pathologies that affect a significant portion of the population. Although therapies that effectively target osteoclasts have been developed, they are associated with sometimes severe side effects, and a fuller understanding of osteoclast biology may lead to more specific treatments. Along those lines, a rich body of work has defined essential signaling pathways required for osteoclast formation, function, and survival. Nonetheless, recent studies have cast new light on long-held views regarding the origin of these cells during development and homeostasis, their life span, and the cellular sources of factors that drive their production and activity during homeostasis and disease. In this review, we discuss these new findings in the context of existing work and highlight areas of ongoing and future investigation.

中文翻译：

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破骨细胞，骨雕大师


破骨细胞是多核细胞，具有吸收骨基质的独特能力。破骨细胞的过量产生或激活会导致骨骼病变，从而影响很大一部分人群。尽管已经开发出有效靶向破骨细胞的疗法，但它们有时与严重的副作用有关，对破骨细胞生物学的更全面了解可能会导致更具体的治疗方法。沿着这些思路，大量的工作已经确定了破骨细胞形成、功能和生存所需的基本信号通路。尽管如此，最近的研究为长期以来关于这些细胞在发育和体内平衡过程中的起源、它们的寿命以及在体内平衡和疾病期间驱动它们产生和活动的因素的细胞来源的观点提供了新的视角。在这篇综述中，我们在现有工作的背景下讨论了这些新发现，并强调了正在进行和未来调查的领域。