MicroRNAs in the control of metastatic bone disease

Abstract

Bone metastasis is a common and devastating complication of late-stage breast and prostate cancer. Complex interactions between tumor cells, bone cells, and a milieu of components in their microenvironment contribute to the osteolytic, osteoblastic, or mixed lesions present in patients with metastasis to bone. In the past decade microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as key players in cancer progression, but the importance of miRNAs in regulating cancer metastasis to bone is only now being appreciated. We emphasize here important concepts of bone biology and miRNAs in the context of breast and prostate cancer, and focus on recent advances that have improved our understanding of the role of specific miRNAs with direct involvement in metastatic bone disease.

Keywords: bone metastasis; breast cancer; miRNA; osteolytic/osteoblastic disease; prostate cancer.