Overexpression of FGF2 delays the progression of osteonecrosis of the femoral head activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the current study was to explore the role and underlying mechanism of FGF-2 in dexamethasone (DEX)-induced apoptosis in MC3T3-E1 cells. METHODS: GSE21727 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by the limma/R package. MC3T3-E1 cells were exposed to DEX at different concentrations (0, 10(−8), 10(−7), 10(−6), 10(−5) and 10(−4) mol/L), and cell viability, flow cytometry and TUNEL assay were used to detect cell proliferation and apoptosis. An FGF-2-pcDNA3 plasmid (oe-FGF-2) was used to overexpress FGF-2, and western blotting was conducted to detect protein expression. RESULTS: We found that FGF-2 was downregulated in the DEX-treated group. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses indicated that DEGs were associated with PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. DEX downregulated FGF-2 gene and protein expression, inhibited viability and induced MC3T3-E1 cell apoptosis. Overexpression of FGF-2 reversed DEX-induced apoptosis in MC3T3-E1 cells. FGF-2-mediated anti-apoptosis was impaired by inactivating the PI3K/AKT pathway with LY294002. Moreover, overexpression of FGF2 delayed the progression of DEX-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) animal model by regulation PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, FGF-2 is effective at inhibiting DEX-induced MC3T3-E1 cell apoptosis through regulating PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13018-021-02715-9.