Bone Abstracts

YB-1 (Y-box binding protein 1) is a multifunctional cold-shock protein that has been implicated in all hallmarks of cancer. Elevated YB-1 protein levels were correlated with poor prognosis in several types of cancers, including breast cancer (BC). In BC, high YB-1 expression is a marker of decreased overall survival (OS) and distant metastasis-free survival across all subtypes. YB-1 is also secreted by different cell types and may act as an extracellular mitogen. Therefore, ou...

Rational: Mortality due to non-small cell lung cancers is the first cause of cancer death in men around the world. Lung adenocarcinoma regularly induces bone metastases responsible for high morbidity and impaired life quality. Overall survival of these patients is poor. Thus we aimed to identify if some bone and metabolic parameters were associated with overall survival.Patients and Methods: POUMOS is a prospective cohort of patients suffering from adeno...

Background: We have recently identified interleukin 1B (IL-1B) as a potential biomarker for predicting breast cancer patients at increased risk for developing bone metastasis. In mouse models, IL-1B and its receptor (IL-1R1) are upregulated in breast cancer cells that metastasise to bone compared with cells that do not. We have now investigated whether blocking IL-1R with the clinically licensed antagonist, anakinra, might be a potential treatment for breast cancer and bone me...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer in males. When patients develop metastasis, no curative therapy is available. To find new therapeutic options, it is crucial to understand how PCa cells induce metastasis. Recently, it was shown that PCa cells secrete small extracellular vesicles (EVs) that can be found in the circulation and in bones. Uptake of EVs by other cells may change their behaviour. We previously identified three miRNAs that were uniquely upregulated in ...

Aims: Using an extensive bioinformatic approach we identified integrin α5 subunit as a novel potential target to treat bone dissemination from breast cancer. Aim of this study is to confirm the value of this target.Methods: Integrin α5 mRNA expression levels were quantified by qRT-PCR, using radically resected primary tumors of 427 breast cancer patients. α5 expression at protein level by IHC on primary tumor was correlated, in an addition...

Several cell types form the hematopoietic stem cell niche. These niches sometimes become hijacked by cancer cells, which may later form metastatic lesions. Our aim was therefore to characterize the bone marrow microenvironment to affect cancer cell homing to bone marrow.Pharmacologic modification consisting of PTH to stimulate the osteoblasts and zoledronic acid to prevent the increase in osteoclasts through PTH resulted in increased homing of cancer cel...

Background: Cancer patients often receive a combination of drugs that target both the microenvironment and the tumour cells. However, the role of the bone microenvironment (BME) in mediating peripheral breast cancer growth remains poorly understood. This is the first study to determine whether reduced subcutaneous tumour growth following combination therapy is due to direct interactions between the drugs and tumour cells or through zoledronic acid induced alterations to the BM...

Multiple myeloma is usually incurable, the bone marrow niche providing a protective microenvironment for quiescent tumour cells. We hypothesised that manipulation of BMP activity, a regulator of cell differentiation in the bone marrow, might affect control of tumour growth by its niche and in addition alter the lytic bone disease of myeloma. Moreover BMP signalling contributes to the hepcidin upregulation and resultant inflammatory anaemia that is characteristic of myeloma. Re...

C5aR is a membrane-associated receptor for C5a, a potent immune mediator generated after complement activation. C5aR expressed in tumor infiltrating immune cells creates a favorable microenvironment for tumor progression. However, the expression of C5aR by cancer cells and its contribution to their malignant phenotype is poorly understood. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that high levels of C5aR in human lung tumors were associated with poor survival (P=0.005) a...

Osteoblasts line the inner surface of the bone and are located in close proximity to the bone marrow, where hematopoiesis takes place. Osteoblasts produce several cytokines that affect various steps of hematopoiesis, and produce fibronectin isoforms that affect cell differentiation. Little is known however on whether osteoblasts modulate the immune response. Our aim was to evaluate the role of fibronectin originating from the osteoblasts on hematopoiesis and the immune respons...

Within a living organism, the adaptive immune system, e.g. cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), induce apoptosis in tumor cells, and therefore limit tumor development. Bone marrow is a mysterious hidden place for different tumor cells and the anti-tumor immunity in the bone marrow is important because the specific microenvironment had been considered to contribute to escape of tumor cells from immune attack. However, the practical mechanism of anti-tumor immune elimination by CTLs ...

Multiple myeloma is characterized by extensive bone marrow tumour and destructive osteolytic lesions. Both increased bone resorption and suppressed bone formation result in lesions and pathological fractures. Anti-resorptive therapies prevent further bone loss but patients continue to fracture, arguing for new therapies which increase bone strength. Anti-Sclerostin (Anti-Scl) is a potent stimulator of bone formation, is currently in clinical trials for osteoporosis, however it...

Breast to bone metastasis is a common incurable event during breast cancer progression. Identifying the molecular mechanisms at play is vital for the development of new therapies. Matrix metalloproteinases, such as MMP-2, are overexpressed in the bone metastatic microenvironment. Genetic ablation of MMP-2 demonstrated its importance of in driving osteolytic bone metastatic breast cancer and support the rationale for the development of a highly specific MMP-2 inhibitor for the ...

Cancer-associated muscle weakness is an important paraneoplastic syndrome for which there is currently no treatment. Human breast cancer bone metastases (MDA-MB-231 cells in immune deficient mice) induce extensive bone destruction, leading to the release of TGF-β from the bone matrix. We have previously shown that bone-derived TGF-β is responsible for muscle weakness in this model. Mechanistically, TGF-β signaling increases the expression of NADPH oxidase 4 (Nox...

Up to half of women treated with an aromatase inhibitor (AI) for breast cancer develop muscle weakness, bone loss, and joint pain. Moreover, an elevated state of osteoclastic bone resorption has been shown to prime the bone microenvironment in ways that accelerate metastatic growth. We hypothesized that AI-induced bone loss could increase breast cancer progression in bone and exacerbate muscle weakness associated with bone metastases. Four-week female athymic nude mice underwe...

Osteosarcoma is a heterogeneous tumor from the mesenchymal lineage, and is the most common form of primary bone cancer. Normally, lesions contain undifferentiated cancer stem cells (CSCs) that support uncontrolled growth/proliferation, and pre-osteoblasts that form excessive amounts of immature bone. CSCs are characterized by high expression of the transcriptional regulators Sox2 and yes-associated protein (YAP) that are essential for tumorigenicity. YAP is restrained by the H...

While the importance of interactions between bone and tumors is well-established, the mechanism by which the physical bone microenvironment regulates disease progression is limited by the lack of suitable in vitro models. We have designed 3D Tissue Engineered Constructs (TECs) using microCT imaging in tandem with inkjet 3D printing technology that recapitulate the mechanical and morphometric properties of trabecular bone. 3D-printed TECs exhibited no significant diffe...

In advanced ER+ve breast cancer, the propensity of bone involvement is 85%. Similarly in advanced lung cancer, 30–40% of patients develop bone metastases, and as recent advances in lung cancer therapies improve survival, the number of patients living with bone metastases is expected to increase. At the same time there is a paucity of especially ER+ and osteoblastic animal models available. We present herein the development of four mouse models of breast and lung cancer su...