Osteoblasts are "educated" by crosstalk with metastatic breast cancer cells in the bone tumor microenvironment.

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION:In a cancer-free environment in the adult, the skeleton continuously undergoes remodeling. Bone-resorbing osteoclasts excavate erosion cavities, and bone-depositing osteoblasts synthesize osteoid matrix that forms new bone, with no net bone gain or loss. When metastatic breast cancer cells invade the bone, this balance is disrupted. Patients with bone metastatic breast cancer frequently suffer from osteolytic bone lesions that elicit severe bone pain and fractures. Bisphosphonate treatments are not curative. Under ideal circumstances, osteoblasts would synthesize new matrix to fill in erosion cavities caused by osteoclasts, but this is not what occurs. Our prior evidence demonstrated that osteoblasts are diverted from laying down bone matrix to producing cytokines that facilit

SUBMITTER: Kolb AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6391840 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature