Osteocytes and Cancer

While the function of osteocytes under physiologic conditions is well defined, their role and involvement in cancer disease remains relatively unexplored, especially in a context of non-bone metastatic cancer. This review will focus on describing the more advanced knowledge regarding the interactions between osteocytes and cancer.

We will discuss the involvement of osteocytes in the onset and progression of osteosarcoma, with the common bone cancers, as well as the interaction that is established between osteocytes and multiple myeloma. Mechanisms responsible for cancer dissemination to bone, as frequently occur with advanced breast and prostate cancers, will be reviewed. While a role for osteocytes in the stimulation and proliferation of cancer cells has been reported, protective effects of osteocytes against bone colonization have been described as well, thus increasing ambiguity regarding the role of osteocytes in cancer progression and dissemination. Lastly, supporting the idea that skeletal defects can occur also in the absence of direct cancer dissemination or osteolytic lesions directly adjacent to the bone, our recent findings will be presented showing that in the absence of bone metastases, the bone microenvironment and, particularly, osteocytes, can manifest a clear and dramatic response to the distant, non-metastatic tumor. Our observations support new studies to clarify whether treatments designed to preserve the osteocytes can be combined with traditional anticancer therapies, even when bone is not directly affected by tumor growth.