Study investigates how breast cancer cells migrate to bone

[News]

Breast cancer cells frequently move from their primary site and invade bone, decreasing a patient's chance of survival. This process of metastasis is complex, and factors both within the breast cancer cells and within the new bone environment play a role. In next week's Journal of Biological Chemistry "Paper of the Week," Roger Gomis and colleagues at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Spain investigated how breast cancer cells migrate to bone.

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[1rarebird]

The article talks about a gene, NOG, that " ...escalates bone degeneration by increasing the number of mature osteoclasts (bone cells that break down bone), essentially creating a spot in the bone for the metastatic breast cancer cells to take up residence." I think I remember not too long ago the thought was that bisphosphonatges that some of us take to help our chemo-ravaged bones might help prevent the spread of breast cancer because of some favorable mechanism it plays with osteoclasts. Too bad that now we are hearing for some people taking bisphosphonates for a long time the chances for a certain type of rare femur fracture increases. It is interesting how promising medical information is often found later to be problematic.---bird