title: Disruption of crosstalk between mesenchymal stromal and tumor cells in bone marrow as a therapeutic target to prevent metastatic bone disease.
abstract: Skeletal metastasis is a serious complication of many primary cancers. A common feature of tumor cells that metastasize to the bone marrow microenvironment is that they initiate a cascade of events, recruiting and presumably/potentially altering the phenotype of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) to produce an environment that allows for tumor growth and in some cases, drug-resistant dormancy of latent cancer cells. Consequently the MSC population can contribute to metastatic disease through several distinct mechanisms by differentiating into cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Understanding the expression and epigenetic changes that occur as normal MSCs become associated with metastatic tumors would reveal possible therapeutic targets for treating skeletal metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Vermont Cancer Center and Department of Biochemistry, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont.
authors.forename: Jonathan A R
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: Jennifer W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lisle
authors.forename: Benjamin A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Alman
authors.forename: Jane B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Lian
mesh_terms: D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment / Q000235:genetics