Paget's disease of bone (PDB) is the second most common bone disease and is characterized by focal bone lesions which contain large numbers of abnormal osteoclasts (OCLs) and very active normal osteoblasts in a highly osteoclastogenic marrow microenvironment. The etiology of PDB is not well understood and both environmental and genetic causes have been implicated in its pathogenesis. Mutations in the SQSTM1/p62 gene have been identified in up to 30% of Paget's patients. To determine if p62 mutation is sufficient to induce PDB, we generated mice harboring a mutation causing a P-to-L (proline-to-leucine) substitution at residue 394 (the murine equivalent of human p62(P392L), the most common PDB-associated mutation). Bone marrow cultures from p62(P394L) mice formed increased numbers of OCLs in response to receptor activator of NF-kappaB ligand (RANKL), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) or 1alpha,25-(OH)(2)D(3), similar to PDB patients. However, purified p62(P394L) OCL precursors depleted of stromal cells were no longer hyper-responsive to 1alpha,25-(OH)(2)D(3), suggesting effects of the p62(P394L) mutation on the marrow microenvironment in addition to direct effects on OCLs. Co-cultures of purified p62(P394L) stromal cells with either wild-type (WT) or p62(P394L) OCL precursors formed more OCLs than co-cultures containing WT stromal cells due to increased RANKL production by the mutant stromal cells. However, despite the enhanced osteoclastogenic potential of both OCL precursors and marrow stromal cells, the p62(P394L) mice had histologically normal bones. These results indicate that this PDB-associated p62 mutation is not sufficient to induce PDB and suggest that additional factors acting together with p62 mutation are necessary for the development of PDB in vivo.