Key Points
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Common tumours, such as those of the breast, lung and prostate, frequently metastasize to bone, and in many patients with advanced disease the skeleton is the site of the most significant tumour burden.
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There are different patterns of bone effects in patients with cancer, ranging from purely or mostly destructive or osteolytic (breast cancer, myeloma), to mostly bone-forming or osteoblastic (prostate cancer).
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In the case of breast-cancer-causing osteolysis, the main mediator is parathyroid-hormone-related peptide (PTHrP), whereas, in osteoblastic lesions, known mediators include endothelin-1 and platelet-derived growth factor.
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In osteolytic metastasis, there is a 'vicious cycle' in the bone microenvironment, whereby bi-directional interactions between tumour cells and osteoclasts lead to both osteolysis and tumour growth.
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The molecular mechanisms that are responsible for this vicious cycle are now being clarified and involve tumour-cell production of PTHrP and bone-derived growth factors that are released as a consequence of increased bone resorption.
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Bisphosphonates interrupt the vicious cycle and cause not only a reduction in osteolytic bone lesions, but also decrease the tumour burden in bone.
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More-effective treatments for interruption of the vicious cycle are now being developed, including specifically neutralizing antibodies to PTHrP and more efficacious osteoclast inhibitors.
Abstract
The most common human cancers — lung, breast and prostate — have a great avidity for bone, leading to painful and untreatable consequences. What makes some cancers, but not others, metastasize to bone, and how do they alter its physiology? Some of the molecular mechanisms that are responsible have recently been identified, and provide new molecular targets for drug development.
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University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center — Bone Metastasis Facts
Glossary
- LEUKOERYTHROBLASTIC ANAEMIA
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A type of anaemia that is associated with cancers that involve the bone marrow, and that is accompanied by increased production of white blood cells.
- ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE
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An enzyme that is found on the cell surface of osteoblasts, is involved in bone mineralization and is used as a serum marker of increased osteoblast activity.
- BONE-SCANNING AGENTS
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Agents, such as bisphosphonates, which localize to bone, that can be tagged with an isotope that allows their detection by imaging techniques. These are used in clinical medicine to detect sites of active bone turnover or bone disease.
- OSTEOCALCIN
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A protein constituent of bone. Its function remains to be clarified, but circulating levels are used as a marker of osteoblast activity.
- MYELOMA
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A neoplastic disorder of the plasma cells that is associated with extensive bone destruction and production of large amounts of specific immunoglobulins.
- CALVARIA
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The skull bones. Rodent calvaria are frequently used in organ culture experiments to determine the effects of factors or compounds that stimulate or inhibit bone resorption or bone formation.
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Mundy, G. Metastasis to bone: causes, consequences and therapeutic opportunities. Nat Rev Cancer 2, 584–593 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc867
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc867
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