Metastasis-Initiating Osteosarcoma Subpopulations Establish Paracrine Interactions with Lung and Tumor Cells to Create a Metastatic Niche.

ABSTRACT: Osteosarcoma is an aggressive and deadly bone tumor, primarily afflicting children, adolescents, and young adults. Poor outcomes for patients with osteosarcoma are intricately linked with the development of lung metastasis, which is responsible for nearly all deaths caused by osteosarcoma. Identification of the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern the metastatic colonization of circulating tumor cells to the lung is needed to develop biologically defined, metastasis-targeting therapies. In this study, using a combination of an in vitro organotypic metastasis model, single-cell RNA sequencing, human xenograft models, and murine immunocompetent osteosarcoma models, we found that metastasis is initiated by a subpopulation of hypoproliferative cells with the unique capacity

SUBMITTER: Reinecke JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12616249 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature