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Animal model for mammary tumor growth in the bone microenvironment

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Abstract

Advanced breast cancer commonly spreads to the bones, lungs, liver or brain, and bone is the most common site of breast cancer metastasis. Nearly all patients with advanced breast cancer develop bone metastasis and suffer from serious bone metastasis-associated complications, including chronic pain, fracture, spinal cord compression and hypercalcemia. Metastasis formation in the bone is a complex process that requires cooperative reciprocal interactions between tumor cells and the cellular environment of the bone, which includes osteoclasts and osteoblasts. We have developed a murine bone invasion model of breast cancer, which required a simple surgical technique and mimics the biology of the disease. Osteolytic and/or osteoblastic lesions induced in the tumor-bone interface allowed us to explore cellular and molecular interactions between malignant cells and skeletal tissue in a syngeneic setting. In this review, we will discuss a different animal model that provides a consistent and reproducible platform for investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor–bone interaction and breast cancer-induced osteolytic changes.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by a research grant from the Scientific Support Programs for Cancer Research, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, a grant-in-aid for Scientific Research (C) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure grant KG090860 (R.K.S).

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared that no conflict of interest exists.

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  1. Department of Molecular Toxicology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya City University, 1-Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8601, Japan

    Mitsuru Futakuchi

  2. Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-5900, USA

    Rakesh K. Singh

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  1. Mitsuru Futakuchi
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Correspondence to Mitsuru Futakuchi.

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Futakuchi, M., Singh, R.K. Animal model for mammary tumor growth in the bone microenvironment. Breast Cancer 20, 195–203 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-013-0439-5

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