Osteoimmunology — Bidirectional dialogue and inevitable union of the fields of bone and immunity —

Bone is a critically important part of the skeletal system that is essential for body support and locomotion. The immune system protects against pathogens and is active in host defense. These two seemingly distinct systems in fact interact with each other, share molecules and create a collaborative regulatory system called the “osteoimmune system”. The most representative osteoimmune molecule is receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL), which plays multiple roles in the osteoimmune system under both physiological and pathological conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and cancer metastasis to bone. Based on accumulating evidence for such mutual dependence, it is concluded that the relationship between bone and the immune system did not develop by accident but as a necessary consequence of evolution. Here I describe the history of and recent advances in osteoimmunology, providing a perspective in the contexts of both science and medicine.