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Metastasis

No sympathy?

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 12, pages 584–585 (2012)Cite this article

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modification of the bone marrow environment by sympathetic neuronal signals seems to promote its colonization by breast cancer cells

Florent Elefteriou, J. Preston Campbell and colleagues used a chronic immobilization stress (CIS) model (immobilization for 2 hours a day, 6 days a week) to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system in athymic mice that were injected intracardially with a human bone metastatic breast cancer cell line. Mice subjected to CIS developed more and larger osteolytic lesions than control mice (no CIS), and had an increased number of bone metastases. Because noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter produced by sympathetic neurons, is a known stimulant of osteoclastogenesis it is not surprising that these mice developed more osteolytic lesions; however, the increased numbers of bone metastases in these mice indicate a link between chronic stress and bone metastasis. Noradrenaline stimulates β2 adrenergic receptors (β2AR) on osteoblasts and these can be inhibited by β-blockers. Treatment of mice subject to CIS concomitantly with β-blockers reduced both the number of osteolytic lesions and the number of bone metastases.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Campbell, J. P. et al. Stimulation of host bone marrow stromal cells by sympathetic nerves promotes breast cancer bone metastasis in mice. PLoS Biol. 10, e1001363 (2012)Article

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  1. Nicola McCarthy
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McCarthy, N. No sympathy?. Nat Rev Cancer 12, 584–585 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3351

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