Research Progress on the Mechanism of Non-coding RNA Regulation of Bone Reconstruction in Osteoporosis and the Therapeutic Mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Tonifying Kidney and Strengthening Bone

Non-coding RNAs(ncRNAs) are special RNAs that they don't have protein coding function, but they can affect chromosome structure, gene transcription and participate in the processes of epigenetic modifications. ncRNAs include long non-coding RNAs, microRNA, etc. In recent years, it has been found that these ncRNAs can maintain bone remodeling by adjusting bone resorption and formation in osteoporosis(OP). In the future, it may be a key target of the drug action screening which is clarifying the regulatory mechanism of ncRNAs in the occurrence and development of OP. OP belongs to bone rheumatism category in traditional Chinese medicine, according to the theory of “the kidney generating marrow and dominating bone” in traditional Chinese medicine, kidney tonifying and bone strengthening formulas are used to treat the OP in clinic, and the curative effect is remarkable. It has been found that kidney tonifying and bone strengthening prescriptions can enhance the proliferation of osteoblasts or inhibit the differentiation of osteoclasts by up-regulating or down-regulating the expression of ncRNA, and finally maintain OP bone homeostasis, thus exerting therapeutic effect. However, the specific molecular mechanism is still in its exploratory stage. Therefore, this paper summarized the molecular mechanism of kidney tonifying and bone strengthening prescriptions regulating ncRNAs in the treatment of OP in recent years, in order to provide the new ideas for the screening of the key therapeutic targets of OP drugs and the prevention and treatment of OP with traditional Chinese medicine.