Osteoporosis is a bone disease, characterized by low bone mass and increased risk of fractures [
1]. It is well accepted that osteoporosis can be caused by various endocrine, metabolic, and mechanical factors. However, recently, there are opinions that there may be an inflammatory component in the etiology of osteoporosis [
2,
3]. There is plenty of evidence linking inflammation to osteoporosis. Epidemiological studies have identified higher incidence of osteoporosis in various inflammatory conditions such as ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus [
4–
7]. This association was also observed clinically whereby the degree of osteoporosis was equivalent to the extent of inflammation. If the inflammation was systemic, bone loss will occur at all skeletal sites, whereas if the inflammation was only restricted to a site, bone loss will only occur locally at that site of inflammation [
3]. Elderly patients are more prone to osteoporosis, and this was believed to be connected to the elevated production of proinflammatory cytokines with aging [
8,
9].
The occurrence of inflammation is indicated by the presence of inflammatory markers such as cytokines and C-reactive protein. Biochemical studies have demonstrated elevation of proinflammatory cytokines TNF-
α and IL-6 in arthritic disease such as gouty arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis [
10,
11]. An obvious relationship between inflammation and osteoporosis was seen in rheumatoid arthritis, whereby proinflammatory cytokines were released causing bone loss around the affected joints [
12]. The level of C-reactive protein, a sensitive marker of systemic inflammation, was also found to be associated with bone mineral density [
13]. Inflammation may contribute to bone loss by affecting the bone remodeling process, favouring bone resorption activity by osteoclasts rather than bone formation activity by osteoblasts [
14,
15]. Bone resorption is determined by the balance between two cytokines, receptor activator of nuclear factor
κB ligand (RANKL), and osteoprotegerin (OPG) [
16]. RANKL is crucial for the differentiation and activation of osteoclast [
17]. Higher RANKL levels were associated with lower bone mineral density in men [
18]. Administration of serum RANKL to mice promoted osteoclast growth and activation, leading to osteoporosis [
19]. On the other hand, OPG antagonizes RANKL by binding with RANKL and preventing it from binding to RANK receptors. By doing that, OPG was able to inhibit osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption [
20]. Macrophage colony stimulating factor (MCSF) is another important determinant of osteoclastogenesis, but its mechanism to modulate osteoclastogenesis is still not clear [
20].
The “upstream” cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-
α [
21,
22] and “downstream” cytokines such as RANKL, OPG, and M-CSF [
23–
25] played an important role in bone remodeling. Imbalance in their bioactivity may lead to bone loss and osteoporosis. Cytokines are small- to medium-sized proteins or glycoproteins with molecular weight ranging from 8 to 40,000 dalton. They act as the biological mediator for most cells and function at low concentrations between 10
−10 and 10
−5 molar. They have a short half-life of less than 10 minutes, and their serum level can be as low as 10

pg/mL. The cytokine levels increase dramatically during inflammation and infection. The measurement of cytokine levels in close vicinity to bone such as the bone marrow is important for studies on osteoporosis and other bone diseases. In postmenopausal women, cytokine production by the peripheral monocytes correlated well with cytokines secreted by monocytes in the bone marrow. Therefore, cytokine levels in the serum are representative of the local monocytes [
26]. Stromal cells and osteoblasts produce interleukin-1, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-
α. These proinflammatory cytokines are also known as the bone-resorbing cytokines or proosteoclast cytokines as they promote osteoclast differentiation and activity [
27–
30]. The bone resorption activity of these cytokines in ovariectomised rats was reduced with anticytokine therapy such as IL-1 receptor antagonists and TNF-binding protein [
31]. Vitamin E, a potent antioxidant vitamin, was also found to inhibit or suppress cytokine production [
32,
33]. This vitamin E action may be responsible for its ability to prevent inflammation and osteoporosis, seen in several studies on osteoporosis using animal models [
34].
Vitamin E is a group of potent, lipid-soluble, chain-breaking antioxidants. It can be classified into tocopherol and tocotrienol based on the chemical structure. Palm oil, which is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm
Elaeis guineensis, is abundant in tocotrienols. Tocotrienol has an unsaturated farnesyl (isoprenoid) side-chain, while tocopherol has a saturated phytyl side chain [
35].
Vitamin E occurs in eight isoforms of
α-,
β-,
γ-, and
δ-tocopherols or tocotrienols. It was thought that both the
γ and
δ isomers of tocopherol have better antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities than the
α isomer [
36,
37]. Once vitamin E is absorbed in the intestine, it will enter the circulation via the lymphatic system and be transported to the liver with the chylomicrons [
38]. Vitamin E is metabolized by cytochrome P450 and then excreted in the urine [
39].
In human subjects and animal models, high doses of vitamin E were found to exhibit anti-inflammatory effects by decreasing C-reactive protein (CRP) and inhibiting the release of proinflammatory cytokines [
40]. These were evident in a study on patients with coronary artery disease, whereby the CRP and tumor necrosis factor-
α (TNF-
α) concentrations were found to be significantly lowered with
α-tocopherol supplementation compared to placebo [
41]. Since vitamin E was also found to inhibit cyclooxygenase-2 activities, it was thought to be able to exert anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic activities, especially in the colon [
42]. This was demonstrated by Yang et al. [
43], who found that vitamin E was able to significantly lower colon inflammation index and reduced the number of colon adenomas in mice given azoxymethane.
This paper will focus on the effects of vitamin E on bone-resorbing cytokines with special attention on IL-1 and IL-6.