Osteoblasts remotely supply lung tumors with cancer-promoting SiglecF

Bone has a well-established role in advanced cancer. It provides a supportive microenvironment for the growth of metastatic cells that escape the primary tumor, which ultimately leads to loss of bone mass. Engblom et al. show that bone may also contribute to early-stage tumorigenesis through a mecha...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rickelt, Steffen, Hynes, Richard O
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118804
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5224-7764
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7603-8396
Description
Summary:Bone has a well-established role in advanced cancer. It provides a supportive microenvironment for the growth of metastatic cells that escape the primary tumor, which ultimately leads to loss of bone mass. Engblom et al. show that bone may also contribute to early-stage tumorigenesis through a mechanism that leads to an increase in bone mass (see the Perspective by Zhang and Lyden). In mouse models of lung adenocarcinoma, primary tumor cells remotely activated bone-resident cells called osteoblasts, which have a bone-building function. The activated osteoblasts in turn triggered production of a certain type of neutrophil that infiltrates the primary tumor and promotes its growth. Patients with early-stage lung cancer were also found to have an increase in bone density, consistent with the findings in mice.