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Bone appetite: bone-derived factors feed distant immune suppression

Debolina Ganguly1, Judith Agudo2

  • 1Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA.

Trends in Cancer
|July 18, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Bone metastases impair the immune system, hindering immunotherapy effectiveness. Osteopontin produced by bone tumors suppresses immunity in distant sites, revealing a new mechanism of cancer immune evasion.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Immunology
  • Cancer Metastasis

Background:

  • The location of metastatic cancer significantly impacts treatment outcomes.
  • Understanding systemic effects of metastases is crucial for effective cancer therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how bone metastases affect systemic immune function.
  • To identify mechanisms by which bone metastases hinder immunotherapy response.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of a study by Cheng et al. in Cancer Cell.
  • Examination of immune function in the context of bone metastases.

Main Results:

  • Bone metastases were found to cause a systemic decline in immune function.
  • Osteopontin (OPN) production by bone metastases was identified as a key factor suppressing immunity in distant lesions.
  • This indicates a novel cross-organ communication pathway that compromises anti-tumor immunity.

Conclusions:

  • Bone metastases create an immunosuppressive environment that limits immunotherapy efficacy.
  • Targeting osteopontin or related pathways may restore immune function and improve cancer treatment outcomes.
Keywords:
immunotherapyorgan crosstalksystemic factors

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