TY - JOUR
T1 - Bone, a secondary growth site of breast and prostate carcinomas
T2 - Role of osteocytes
AU - Maroni, Paola
AU - Bendinelli, Paola
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by the Italian Ministry of Health [Ricerca Corrente].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/7
Y1 - 2020/7
N2 - Bone is the primarily preferred site for breast and prostate cancer to metastasize. Bone metastases are responsible for most deaths related to breast and prostate cancer. The bone’s particular microenvironment makes it conducive for the growth of cancer cells. Studies on bone metastasis have focused on the interaction between cancer cells and the bone microenvironment. Osteocytes, the most common cell type of bone tissue, have received little attention in bone metastasis, although they are master signal sensors, integrators, and skeleton transducers. They play an important role in regulating bone mass by acting on both osteoblasts and osteoclasts, through the release of proteins such as sclerostin, Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1), and fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23). Osteocytes have been extensively re-evaluated, in light of their multiple functions: with different experimental approaches, it has been shown that, indeed, osteocytes are actively involved in the colonization of bone tissue by cancer cells. The present review focuses on recent research on the role that osteocytes play in bone metastasis of breast and prostate cancers. Moreover, the studies here summarized open up perspectives for new therapeutic approaches focused on modulating the activity of osteocytes to improve the condition of the bone metastatic patients. A better understanding of the complex interactions between cancer cells and bone-resident cells is indispensable for identifying potential therapeutic targets to stop tumor progression and prevent bone metastases.
AB - Bone is the primarily preferred site for breast and prostate cancer to metastasize. Bone metastases are responsible for most deaths related to breast and prostate cancer. The bone’s particular microenvironment makes it conducive for the growth of cancer cells. Studies on bone metastasis have focused on the interaction between cancer cells and the bone microenvironment. Osteocytes, the most common cell type of bone tissue, have received little attention in bone metastasis, although they are master signal sensors, integrators, and skeleton transducers. They play an important role in regulating bone mass by acting on both osteoblasts and osteoclasts, through the release of proteins such as sclerostin, Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1), and fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23). Osteocytes have been extensively re-evaluated, in light of their multiple functions: with different experimental approaches, it has been shown that, indeed, osteocytes are actively involved in the colonization of bone tissue by cancer cells. The present review focuses on recent research on the role that osteocytes play in bone metastasis of breast and prostate cancers. Moreover, the studies here summarized open up perspectives for new therapeutic approaches focused on modulating the activity of osteocytes to improve the condition of the bone metastatic patients. A better understanding of the complex interactions between cancer cells and bone-resident cells is indispensable for identifying potential therapeutic targets to stop tumor progression and prevent bone metastases.
KW - Bone metastasis
KW - Breast cancer
KW - Dickkopf-1(DKK-1)
KW - Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23)
KW - Osteocytes
KW - Prostate cancer
KW - Sclerostin
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088718134&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85088718134&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/cancers12071812
DO - 10.3390/cancers12071812
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85088718134
VL - 12
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - Cancers
JF - Cancers
SN - 2072-6694
IS - 7
M1 - 1812
ER -