Journal of Bone Oncology

PURPOSE: Spinal multiple myeloma (MM) and metastases are two common cancer types with similar imaging characteristics, for which differential diagnosis is needed to ensure precision therapy. The aim of this study is to establish radiomics models for effective differentiation between them. METHODS: Enrolled in this study were 263 patients from two medical institutions, including 127 with spinal MM and 136 with spinal metastases. Of them, 210 patients from institution I were used as the internal training cohort and 53 patients from Institution II were used as the external validation cohort...

Previous studies illustrated that macrophage, a type of innate immune cell, plays critical roles in tumour progression and metastasis. Bone is the most frequent site of metastasis for several cancer types including breast, prostate, and lung. In bone metastasis, osteoclast, a macrophage subset specialized in bone resorption, was heavily investigated in the past. Recent studies illustrated that other macrophage subsets, e.g. monocyte-derived macrophages, and bone resident macrophages, promoted bone metastasis independent of osteoclast function...

Tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO), also known as oncogenic osteomalacia, is very rare, with about 1000 reported cases globally. Removing most TIO culprit tumors requires the evaluation and intervention of orthopedic doctors. However, orthopedic doctors often have a poor understanding of the optical treatment of TIO due to its rarity. In addition, most TIO patients lack specific clinical manifestations. Also, the clinical localization and qualitative diagnosis of TIO are difficult and thus can easily be misdiagnosed and mistreated...

Osteosclerosis in multiple myeloma (MM) is typically associated with rare POEMS syndrome, characterized by polyneuropathy (P), organomegaly (O), endocrinopathy (E), M-protein (M), and skin changes (S). However, osteosclerosis in multiple myeloma (MM) without POEMS syndrome, defined as non-POEMS Osteosclerotic MM, is exceedingly rare. We report a 70-year-old man with rib pain, remarkably high bone mineral density and diffuse osteosclerosis. The diagnosis of non-POEMS osteosclerotic MM was confirmed by biopsy and aspiration of bone marrow through surgery...

Breast and prostate cancer are among the most common malignancies worldwide. After treatment of the primary tumor, distant metastases often occur after a long disease-free interval. Bone is a major site for breast and prostate cancer metastasis and approximately 70% of patients with advanced disese suffer from osteolytic or osteoblastic bone metastases, a stage at which the disease is incurable. In bone, the disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) can become quiescent or "dormant", a state where they are alive but not actively dividing...

A 31-year-old woman was diagnosed with a recurrent and rapidly growing giant cell tumour of distal tibia with skin ulceration after intralesional curettage. The patient started on Denosumab 120 mg subcutaneously, once per month with additional loading doses on Days 8 and 15 attempting to avoid below-knee amputation. Twelve doses of Denosumab were administered in 9 months, resulting in resolution of pain, reduction of tumour size and calcification. Hence, the local surgical treatment was delayed and bisphosphonate maintenance therapy was initiated as skin healing was incomplete...

BACKGROUND: Osteosarcoma, a tumor that originates from bone cells, has a poor prognosis and a high degree of malignancy. Anlotinib, a small-molecule multi-target tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), is the first-line drug in treating osteosarcoma, especially in late-stage osteosarcoma. However, patients often develop resistance after using anlotinib for a certain period, which poses a challenge to its further clinical application. Recently, several TKIs, for instance regorafenib and cabozantinib, have showed clinical interest in treating osteosarcoma and target both vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) and mesenchymal epithelial transition factor (c-MET)...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Pelvic bone tumors represent a harmful orthopedic condition, encompassing both benign and malignant forms. Addressing the issue of limited accuracy in current machine learning algorithms for bone tumor image segmentation, we have developed an enhanced bone tumor image segmentation algorithm. This algorithm is built upon an improved full convolutional neural network, incorporating both the fully convolutional neural network (FCNN-4s) and a conditional random field (CRF) to achieve more precise segmentation...

Metastasis is a major contributor to cancer patient mortality. Tumour cells often develop phenotypic plasticity to successfully metastasize to different target organs. Recent progress in the study of bone metastasis has provided novel insight into the biological processes that drive the spread and growth of cancer cells in the bone. In this review, we provide a summary of how the bone marrow microenvironment promotes phenotypic plasticity of metastatic tumour cells and alters therapeutic responses. We highlight pivotal transformations in cellular status driven by plasticity, including mesenchymal-epithelial transition, acquisition of stem-like traits, and awakening from dormancy...

BACKGROUND: As compared to endocrine responsive breast cancer bone is less frequent site of distant recurrence in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). A biomarker which predicts bone recurrence would allow a more personalized treatment approach with adjuvant bisphosphonates in TNBC. Here we hypothesised that tumour expression of androgen receptor (AR) is associated with bone recurrence in TNBC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with operable TNBC who were treated at the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana between 2005 and 2015 and developed distant recurrence were included into our study...

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to delve into the complexities involved in diagnosing of benign and malignant bone tumors and to assess the potential of AI technologies like ChatGPT in improving diagnostic accuracy and efficiency. The study also explores the few-shot learning as a method to optimize ChatGPT's performance in specialized medical domains such as benign and malignant bone tumors diagnosis. METHODS: A total of 1366 benign and malignant bone tumors-related imaging reports were collected and diagnosed by 25 experienced physicians...

Epigenetic alterations, including DNA methylation and post translational modifications to histones, drive tumorigenesis and metastatic progression. In the context of bone metastasis, epigenetic modifications in tumor cells can modulate dissemination of cancer cells to the bone, tumor progression in the bone marrow, and may be associated with patient survival rates. Bone disseminated tumor cells may enter a dormant state or stimulate osteolysis through the "vicious cycle" of bone metastasis where bone disseminated tumor cells disrupt the bone microenvironment, which fuels tumor progression...

Metastatic bone disease is a complex condition resulting from the migration and colonization of cancer cells from their primary site to the bone microenvironment, where they typically develop a metastatic niche. Osteocytes, the most abundant cells in bone tissue and the master regulators of bone remodelling, are increasingly thought to play a crucial role in this process through intricate interactions with cancer cells. This review covers the recent progress made in exploring the multifaceted interactions between osteocytes and cancer cells in the metastatic microenvironment, highlighting the importance of signalling networks in bone metastases...

Metabolic reprogramming is an adaptive response of tumour cells under hypoxia and low nutrition conditions. There is increasing evidence that glucose metabolism reprogramming can regulate the growth and metastasis of osteosarcoma (OS). Reprogramming in the progress of OS can bring opportunities for early diagnosis and treatment of OS. Previous research mainly focused on the glycolytic pathway of glucose metabolism, often neglecting the tricarboxylic acid cycle and pentose phosphate pathway. However, the tricarboxylic acid cycle and pentose phosphate pathway of glucose metabolism are also involved in the progression of OS and are closely related to this disease...

The primary function of the lysyl oxidase (LOX) family, including LOX and its paralogue LOX-like (LOXL)-2, is to catalyze the covalent crosslinking of collagen and elastin in the extracellular matrix. LOX and LOXL2 are also facilitating breast cancer invasion and metastatic spread to visceral organs (lungs, liver) in vivo . Conversely, the contribution of LOX and LOXL2 to breast cancer bone metastasis remains scant. Here, using gene overexpression or silencing strategies, we investigated the role of LOX and LOXL2 on the formation of metastatic osteolytic lesions in animal models of triple negative breast cancer...

The importance of the gut microbiota in human health has become increasingly apparent in recent years, especially when the relationship between microbiota and host is no longer symbiotic. It has long been appreciated that gut dysbiosis can be detrimental to human health and is associated with numerous disease states. Only within the last decade, however, was the gut microbiota implicated in bone biology. Dubbed osteomicrobiology, this emerging field aims to understand the relationship between the gut microbiome and the bone microenvironment in both health and disease...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Due to their aggressive nature and poor prognosis, malignant femoral bone tumors present considerable hurdles. Early treatment commencement is essential for enhancing vital and practical outcomes. In this investigation, deep learning algorithms will be used to analyze magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data to identify bone tumors that are malignant. METHODOLOGY: The study cohort included 44 patients, with ages ranging from 17 to 78 (22 women and 22 males)...

BACKGROUND: Osteosarcoma, the most common primary malignant bone tumor, is currently treated with surgery combined with chemotherapy, but the limited availability of targeted drugs contributes to a poor prognosis. Identifying effective therapeutic targets is crucial for improving the prognosis of osteosarcoma patients. METHODS: We screened the DepMap database to identify essential genes as potential therapeutic targets for osteosarcoma. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was employed to elucidate the biological roles of these essential genes...

BACKGROUND: Despite the encouraging results of the SCORAD trial, single fraction radiotherapy (SFRT) remains underused for patients with complicated bone metastases with rates as low as 18-39%. We aimed to evaluate the incidence and treatment patterns of these metastases in patients being referred to a tertiary centre for palliative radiotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of all bone metastases treated at our centre from January 2013 until December 2017...

BACKGROUND: Visits to an outpatient cancer clinic represent a challenging situation for patients, which can trigger anxiety and helplessness in those affected. It is important to identify patients with high psychological distress as early as possible in order to provide them with supportive psychological interventions. The aim of this study was to validate the Distress Thermometer (DT), a widely used screening for distress, in a cohort of patients with musculoskeletal tumors and to explore associations between distress, treatment satisfaction and health literacy...