Osteolysis and Cancer

Description: The most common skeletal manifestation of malignancy is focal osteolysis in association with metastases. In order for tumor cells to grow and invade mineralized bone, osteolysis must occur. Osteoclasts appear uniquely adapted to produce the microenvironment and the biochemical milieu that are needed to resorb bone. Although previous reports have indicated that some tumor cells appear capable of assuming an osteoclast phenotype and directly resorbing bone (3), the bulk of the evidence suggests that most tumor cells act indirectly by co-opting the physiologic mechanisms that normally favor bone resorption. Thus, they release agents such as hormones, eicosanoids, growth factors, and cytokines into the bone microenvironment, which act on osteoblastic stromal cells to enhance the production of osteoclast activating factors.
Full text. David Goltzman J Clin Invest. 2001 May 15; 107(10): 1219–1220.