In vitro model helps show why breast cancer spreads to bone

Researchers from Tampere University, Finland, and Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey, have developed an in vitro cancer model to investigate why breast cancer spreads to bone. Their findings hold promise for advancing the development of preclinical tools to predict breast cancer bone metastasis.

Breast cancer is a significant global public health challenge, with 2.3 million new cases and 700 000 deaths every year. Approximately 80% of patients with primary breast cancer can be cured, if they are diagnosed and treated promptly. However, in many cases, the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body, or metastasized, at the time of diagnosis.

Metastatic cancer is incurable and accounts for more than 90% of cancer-related deaths. Currently, there are no reliable in vitro models to study how breast cancer spreads to secondary organs such as bone, lung, liver or brain.

Now, researchers from the Precision Nanomaterials Group at Tampere University and the Cancer Molecular Biology Lab at Izmir Institute of Technology have used lab-on-a-chip platforms to create a physiologically relevant metastasis model to study the factors controlling breast cancer bone metastasis.

The study titled “Invasion/chemotaxis- and extravasation-chip models for breast cancer bone metastasis” was published in PLOS One on 17 October 2024.

“Breast cancer most frequently spreads to bone, with an estimated rate of 53%, resulting in severe symptoms such as pain, pathological bone fractures, and spinal cord compressions. Our research provides a laboratory model that estimates the likelihood and mechanism of bone metastasis occurring within a living organism.

“This advances the understanding of molecular mechanisms in breast cancer bone metastasis and provides the groundwork for developing preclinical tools for predicting bone metastasis risk,” says Burcu Firatligil-Yildirir, postdoctoral researcher at Tampere University and the first author of the paper.

According to Nonappa, Associate Professor and leader of the Precision Nanomaterials Group at Tampere University, developing sustainable in vitro models that mimic the complexity of the native breast and bone microenvironment is a multidisciplinary challenge.

“Our work shows that physiologically relevant in vitro models can be generated by combining cancer biology, microfluidics and soft materials. The results open new possibilities for developing predictive disease, diagnostic and treatment models,” he says.