title: In vitro microenvironments to study breast cancer bone colonisation.
abstract: Bone metastasis occurs frequently in patients with advanced breast cancer and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in these patients. In order to advance current therapies, the mechanisms leading to the formation of bone metastases and their pathophysiology have to be better understood. Several in vitro models have been developed for systematic studies of interactions between breast cancer cells and the bone microenvironment. Such models can provide insights into the molecular basis of bone metastatic colonisation and also may provide a useful platform to design more physiologically relevant drug testing assays. This review describes different in vitro approaches and discusses their advantages and disadvantages.
authors.affiliation: Group of Cellular Machines, Biotec TU Dresden, Tatzberg 47-51, 01307 Dresden, Germany; Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Musk Avenue 60, Kelvin Grove, QLD, Australia. Electronic address: anna.taubenberger@biotec.tu-dresden.de.
authors.forename: Anna V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Taubenberger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Bone metastasis; Breast cancer; In vitro model; Tissue engineering; Tumour microenvironment