The Biology of Bone Metastasis. Author Mark Esposito, Theresa Guise, Yibin Kang Publication Year 2018 Type Journal Article Abstract Bone metastasis, or the development of secondary tumors within the bone of cancer patients, is a debilitating and incurable disease. Despite its morbidity, the biology of bone metastasis represents one of the most complex and intriguing of all oncogenic processes. This complexity derives from the intricately organized bone microenvironment in which the various stages of hematopoiesis, osteogenesis, and osteolysis are jointly regulated but spatially restricted. Disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) from various common malignancies such as breast, prostate, lung, and kidney cancers or myeloma are uniquely primed to subvert these endogenous bone stromal elements to grow into pathological osteolytic or osteoblastic lesions. This colonization process can be separated into three key steps: seeding, dormancy, and outgrowth. Targeting the processes of dormancy and initial outgrowth offers the most therapeutic promise. Here, we discuss the concepts of the bone metastasis niche, from controlling tumor-cell survival to growth into clinically detectable disease. Keywords Animals, Humans, Stem Cells, Bone Neoplasms, Tumor Microenvironment, Osteoblasts, Bone and Bones Journal Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med Volume 8 Issue 6 Date Published 2018 Jun 01 ISSN Number 2157-1422 DOI 10.1101/cshperspect.a031252 Alternate Journal Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med PMCID PMC5980796 PMID 29101110 PubMedPubMed CentralGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML