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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Skeletal Phenotype Analysis of a Conditional Stat3 Deletion Mouse Model
Published on: July 3, 2020
Cathepsin K in the bone microenvironment: link between obesity and prostate cancer?
I Podgorski1, B E Linebaugh, B F Sloane
1Department of Pharmacology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48201, USA. ipodgors@med.wayne.edu
Abstract:
The skeleton is the most common site of metastasis in patients with advanced prostate cancer. Despite many advances in targeting skeletal metastases, the mechanisms behind the attraction of prostate cancer cells to the bone are not known. Osteoclast cathepsin K, due to its ability to effectively degrade bone matrix collagen I, has been implicated in colonization and growth of prostate tumours in the bone. Identification of new cathepsin K substrates in the bone microenvironment and the recent findings demonstrating its involvement in obesity and inflammation suggest additional roles for this enzyme in skeletal metastases of prostate cancer.
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