Models of Breast Cancer Metastasis to Bone: Characterization of a Clinically Relevant Model

Abstract

Breast cancer metastasis to the skeleton is a severe clinical problem that occurs in 70% of patients with advanced disease. Bone is also a frequent site of metastasis of some other cancers, including prostate. Bone metastases in breast cancer are predominantly osteolytic due to the resorption of bone following excessive activation of osteoclasts. This leads to major clinical problems including severe pain, hypercalcemia, bone fractures and nerve-compression syndromes (1).