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Title
Mammary tumour cells remodel the bone marrow vascular microenvironment to support metastasis.
Publication Date
2021-11-26
Author(s)
Yip, Raymond K H
Rimes, Joel S
Capaldo, Bianca D
Vaillant, François
Mouchemore, Kellie A
Pal, Bhupinder
Chen, Yunshun
Surgenor, Elliot
Murphy, Andrew J
Anderson, Robin L
Smyth, Gordon K
Lindeman, Geoffrey J
Hawkins, Edwin D
Visvader, Jane E
Type of document
Journal Article
OrcId
0000-0003-2698-7686
0000-0001-6488-2784
0000-0003-3229-3760
0000-0002-3684-4331
0000-0003-4911-5653
0000-0001-7039-7777
0000-0001-9221-2892
0000-0001-9386-2416
0000-0002-3686-8261
0000-0001-9173-6977
DOI
10.1038/s41467-021-26556-6
Abstract
Bone marrow is a preferred metastatic site for multiple solid tumours and is associated with poor prognosis and significant morbidity. Accumulating evidence indicates that cancer cells colonise specialised niches within the bone marrow to support their long-term propagation, but the precise location and mechanisms that mediate niche interactions are unknown. Using breast cancer as a model of solid tumour metastasis to the bone marrow, we applied large-scale quantitative three-dimensional imaging to characterise temporal changes in the bone marrow microenvironment during disease progression. We show that mouse mammary tumour cells preferentially home to a pre-existing metaphyseal domain enriched for type H vessels. Metastatic lesion outgrowth rapidly remodelled the local vasculature through extensive sprouting to establish a tumour-supportive microenvironment. The evolution of this tumour microenvironment reflects direct remodelling of the vascular endothelium through tumour-derived granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) in a hematopoietic cell-independent manner. Therapeutic targeting of the metastatic niche by blocking G-CSF receptor inhibited pathological blood vessel remodelling and reduced bone metastasis burden. These findings elucidate a mechanism of 'host' microenvironment hijacking by mammary tumour cells to subvert the local microvasculature to form a specialised, pro-tumorigenic niche.
Link
Citation
Nature Communications 2021; 12(1): 6920
Jornal Title
Nature Communications

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