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Updated: Oct 8, 2025
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A Preclinical Mouse Model of Osteosarcoma to Define the Extracellular Vesicle-mediated Communication Between Tumor and Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Published on: May 6, 2018
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Mutual Modulation Between Extracellular Vesicles and Mechanoenvironment in Bone Tumors
Enrica Urciuoli1, Barbara Peruzzi1
1Multifactorial Disease and Complex Phenotype Research Area, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
|December 24, 2021
Summary
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) disrupt bone homeostasis by altering the bone mechanoenvironment, fueling cancer progression. Understanding this interplay offers new strategies to combat bone cancers.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Biomedical Engineering
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Bone homeostasis relies on balanced matrix remodeling.
- Cancer cells disrupt this balance, altering the bone microenvironment biochemically and mechanically.
- Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a key role in bone cancer establishment and progression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To summarize the relationship between EVs and the mechanoenvironment in bone cancer progression.
- To explore innovative perspectives for counteracting bone cancers by targeting the EV-mechanoenvironment axis.
Main Methods:
- Literature review on extracellular vesicles and bone mechanoenvironment in cancer.
- Analysis of mechanisms by which cancer cells and bone cells interact via EVs.
- Examination of the role of matrix stiffness and mechanotransduction in tumor progression.
Main Results:
- Cancer cells and bone cells secrete EVs that convey tumorigenic signals.
- EVs modulate proteins regulating matrix stiffness and mechanotransduction, altering the bone mechanoenvironment.
- Altered matrix stiffness influences EV production and content, creating a vicious cycle in bone tumors.
Conclusions:
- EVs are critical mediators linking the bone mechanoenvironment and cancer progression.
- Targeting the interplay between EVs and matrix mechanics presents novel therapeutic opportunities for bone cancers.
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