[Bone cancer pain: from preclinical pharmacology to clinical trials]

Worldwide over 12 million people were diagnosed with cancer (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) and 8 million individuals died from cancer in 2008. Recent data indicate that 75-90% of patients with advanced stage diseases or metastatic cancer will experience significant cancer pain. Bone cancer pain is common in patients with advanced breast, prostate, and lung cancer as these tumors have a marked affinity to metastasize to bone. Once tumors metastasize to bone, they are a major cause of morbidity and mortality as the tumor induces significant skeletal remodeling, fractures, pain and anemia; all of which reduce the functional status, quality of life and survival of the patient. Currently, the factors that drive cancer pain are poorly understood, however, several recently introduced models of bone cancer pain that mirror the human condition, are providing insight into the mechanisms that drive bone cancer pain and guiding the development of novel therapies to treat the cancer pain. Several of these therapies have recently been approved by the FDA to treat bone cancer pain (bisphosphonates, denosumab) and others are currently being evaluated in human clinical trials (tanezumab). These new mechanism-based therapies are enlarging the repertoire of modalities available to treat bone cancer pain and improving the quality of life and functional status of patients with bone cancer.