Research Progress of Bone Metastases: From Disease Recognition to Clinical Practice

Overview

Journal Front Oncol

Specialty Oncology

Date 2023 Feb 10

PMID 36761418

Authors

Wenbo Yang

Qing Pan

Fuhua Huang

Hongzhi Hu

Zengwu Shao

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Bone metastases, as one of the common types of metastatic tumors, have a great impact on the survival period and quality of life of patients. Bone metastases are usually characterized by bone destruction. Skeletal related events caused by bone destruction often lead to pain, pathological fractures and even paralysis. In this review, we provide a detailed explanation of bone metastases from the epidemiology, clinical features, pathogenesis, and recently developed clinical treatment viewpoints. We concluded that the incidence of bone metastases is increasing gradually, with serious clinical symptoms, complex pathogenesis and diverse clinical treatment. Tumor cells, immune cells, osteoblasts/osteoclasts and other cells as well as cytokines and enzymes all play a key role in the pathogenesis of bone metastases. We believe that the future treatment of bone metastases will be diversified and comprehensive. Some advanced technologies, such as nanomedicine, could be used for treatment, but this depends on understanding how disease occurs. With the development of treatment, the survival time and quality of life of patients will be improved.

Citing Articles

Invasion and metastasis in cancer: molecular insights and therapeutic targets.

Li Y, Liu F, Cai Q, Deng L, OuYang Q, Zhang X Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2025; 10(1):57.

PMID: 39979279 PMC: 11842613. DOI: 10.1038/s41392-025-02148-4.

Immunotherapy in the Battle Against Bone Metastases: Mechanisms and Emerging Treatments.

Hamza F, Mohammad K Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2025; 17(12.

PMID: 39770433 PMC: 11679356. DOI: 10.3390/ph17121591.

Primary Bone Tumors and Breast Cancer-Induced Bone Metastases: In Vivo Animal Models and New Alternative Approaches.

Ucci A, Giacchi L, Rucci N Biomedicines. 2024; 12(11).

PMID: 39595017 PMC: 11591690. DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines12112451.

Risk factor analysis and predictive model construction for bone metastasis in newly diagnosed malignant tumor patients.

Hu C, Wu J, Duan Z, Qian J, Zhu J Am J Transl Res. 2024; 16(10):5890-5899.

PMID: 39544773 PMC: 11558386. DOI: 10.62347/MPEV9272.

Intersecting Paths: Unraveling the Complex Journey of Cancer to Bone Metastasis.

Arakil N, Akhund S, Elaasser B, Mohammad K Biomedicines. 2024; 12(5).

PMID: 38791037 PMC: 11117796. DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines12051075.

References

Dai J, Hall C, Escara-Wilke J, Mizokami A, Keller J, Keller E . Prostate cancer induces bone metastasis through Wnt-induced bone morphogenetic protein-dependent and independent mechanisms. Cancer Res. 2008; 68(14):5785-94. PMC: 4432935. DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-07-6541. View

LeRoy B, Sellers R, Rosol T . Canine prostate stimulates osteoblast function using the endothelin receptors. Prostate. 2004; 59(2):148-56. DOI: 10.1002/pros.10370. View

Wang K, Jiang L, Hu A, Sun C, Zhou L, Huang Y . Vertebral-specific activation of the CX3CL1/ICAM-1 signaling network mediates non-small-cell lung cancer spinal metastasis by engaging tumor cell-vertebral bone marrow endothelial cell interactions. Theranostics. 2021; 11(10):4770-4789. PMC: 7978319. DOI: 10.7150/thno.54235. View

Wong E, Kapoor A . Does Bone-targeted Therapy Benefit Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma?. Transl Oncol. 2019; 13(2):241-244. PMC: 6931200. DOI: 10.1016/j.tranon.2019.10.009. View

Escudier B, Powles T, Motzer R, Olencki T, Frontera O, Oudard S . Cabozantinib, a New Standard of Care for Patients With Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma and Bone Metastases? Subgroup Analysis of the METEOR Trial. J Clin Oncol. 2018; 36(8):765-772. PMC: 6804840. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2017.74.7352. View

He Y, Huang Y, Huang Z, Jiang Y, Sun X, Shen Y . Bisphosphonate-functionalized coordination polymer nanoparticles for the treatment of bone metastatic breast cancer. J Control Release. 2017; 264:76-88. DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2017.08.024. View

Wang M, Cai X, Yang J, Wang C, Tong L, Xiao J . A Targeted and pH-Responsive Bortezomib Nanomedicine in the Treatment of Metastatic Bone Tumors. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2018; 10(48):41003-41011. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.8b07527. View

Yilmaz M, Christofori G . EMT, the cytoskeleton, and cancer cell invasion. Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2009; 28(1-2):15-33. DOI: 10.1007/s10555-008-9169-0. View

Isogai N, Yagi M, Nishimura S, Nishida M, Mima Y, Hosogane N . Risk predictors of perioperative complications for the palliative surgical treatment of spinal metastasis. J Orthop Sci. 2021; 26(6):1107-1112. DOI: 10.1016/j.jos.2020.09.005. View

10.

Wei Z, Pan B, Jia D, Yu Y . Long-term safety and efficacy of bisphosphonate therapy in advanced lung cancer with bone metastasis. Future Oncol. 2022; 18(18):2257-2267. DOI: 10.2217/fon-2022-0098. View

11.

Mukaida N, Zhang D, Sasaki S . Emergence of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts as an Indispensable Cellular Player in Bone Metastasis Process. Cancers (Basel). 2020; 12(10). PMC: 7600711. DOI: 10.3390/cancers12102896. View

12.

Okamoto K, Takayanagi H . Osteoimmunology. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2018; 9(1). PMC: 6314075. DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a031245. View

13.

Francini E, Montagnani F, Nuzzo P, Gonzalez-Velez M, Alimohamed N, Rosellini P . Association of Concomitant Bone Resorption Inhibitors With Overall Survival Among Patients With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer and Bone Metastases Receiving Abiraterone Acetate With Prednisone as First-Line Therapy. JAMA Netw Open. 2021; 4(7):e2116536. PMC: 8299314. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.16536. View

14.

Osborne C . Tamoxifen in the treatment of breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 1998; 339(22):1609-18. DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199811263392207. View

15.

Bidwell B, Slaney C, Withana N, Forster S, Cao Y, Loi S . Silencing of Irf7 pathways in breast cancer cells promotes bone metastasis through immune escape. Nat Med. 2012; 18(8):1224-31. DOI: 10.1038/nm.2830. View

16.

Cao P, Chen W, Pang H, Shen W, Xue P, Duan L . Effect of CUL4A on the metastatic potential of lung adenocarcinoma to the bone. Oncol Rep. 2020; 43(2):662-670. DOI: 10.3892/or.2019.7448. View

17.

Kondraciuk J, Rice S, Zhou X, Gharzeddine K, Knezevic A, Spratt D . Thyroid Cancer Bone Metastasis: Survival and Genomic Characteristics of a Large Tertiary Care Cohort. Clin Nucl Med. 2019; 44(8):e465-e471. PMC: 6621602. DOI: 10.1097/RLU.0000000000002626. View

18.

Sun W, Ge K, Jin Y, Han Y, Zhang H, Zhou G . Bone-Targeted Nanoplatform Combining Zoledronate and Photothermal Therapy To Treat Breast Cancer Bone Metastasis. ACS Nano. 2019; 13(7):7556-7567. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b00097. View

19.

Zhang Y, Fujita N, Morinaga Y, Nakagawa T, Yamada M, Tsuruo T . Production of interleukin-11 in bone-derived endothelial cells and its role in the formation of osteolytic bone metastasis. Oncogene. 1998; 16(6):693-703. DOI: 10.1038/sj.onc.1201581. View

20.

Tulotta C, Ottewell P . The role of IL-1B in breast cancer bone metastasis. Endocr Relat Cancer. 2018; 25(7):R421-R434. PMC: 5987176. DOI: 10.1530/ERC-17-0309. View