[Pathophysiology of osteolytic bone metastasis associated with solid cancers].

Bone is one of the most preferential metastatic target sites for solid cancers such as breast, prostate and lung cancers. Although the precise molecular mechanisms underlying this predilection are still unclear, it appears that these cancer cells possess the capacity to modulate bone microenvironments to facilitate their arrest, survival and proliferation. In particular, production of bone-resorbing cytokines by these metastatic cancer cells increases osteoclastic bone resorption, which in turn promotes the colonization of these cancer cells in bone through releasing bone-stored growth factors into the bone marrow cavity. This crosstalk between metastatic cancer cells and bone stimulates the development and progression of bone metastases. Disruption of this vicious cycle leads us to design effective and specific interventions for osteolytic bone metastases of solid cancers.