SIRT1 enhances alveolar bone repair by regulating glycolytic metabolism via the Wnt/β-catenin pathway

J Bone Miner Res. 2026 Mar 26:zjag055. doi: 10.1093/jbmr/zjag055. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The repair of alveolar bone is of vital importance for maintaining oral health and promoting recovery following injury or disease. Functioning as an NAD+-dependent protein deacetylase, SIRT1 modulates diverse physiological activities, with particular relevance to metabolism and osteogenesis. However, its specific role in alveolar bone repair and the associated metabolic pathways have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we explored the function of SIRT1 in alveolar bone healing using a conditional knockout mouse model (Wnt1-Cre; SIRT1fl/fl mice) and evaluated its involvement in glycolytic metabolism through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. The deletion of SIRT1 resulted in significantly impaired bone healing within extraction sockets. Notably, bioinformatics analysis suggested that SIRT1 deficiency may alter the metabolic profile of orofacial mesenchymal stem cells (OMSCs). Consistently, glycolytic activity was markedly reduced in SIRT1-deficient OMSCs, as evidenced by decreased extracellular acidification rate (ECAR), reduced lactate production, and lower expression levels of glycolytic enzymes. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that SIRT1 interacts with β-catenin and that SIRT1 deficiency is associated with increased β-catenin acetylation and reduced nuclear localization, thereby impairing Wnt/β-catenin signaling and glycolytic metabolism. Both in vivo and in vitro rescue experiments using SKL2001, a Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway agonist, revealed that SKL2001 was able to restore β-catenin nuclear translocation, enhance glycolytic metabolism, and improve the impaired osteogenic differentiation caused by SIRT1 deficiency. The results of this study highlight a previously unidentified role of SIRT1 in promoting alveolar bone repair by modulating glycolysis through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. These findings not only advance our understanding of bone repair at the metabolic level but also propose SIRT1 and Wnt signaling as viable therapeutic avenues.

PMID:41885573 | DOI:10.1093/jbmr/zjag055