ArticleEuropean journal of medical research2023
Metastasis of breast cancer to bones alters the tumor immune microenvironment.
Article in European journal of medical research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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14 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Loss of short-form Ron promotes B and T cell cooperation to prevent outgrowth of breast cancer bone metastasis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Breaking the immune "cold niche" in bone metastasis: core mechanisms of the multidimensional interwoven regulatory network and precision breakthrough strategies.Molecular cancer · 2026Review
- Succinate drives breast cancer bone metastasis by activating the HIF1α/YTHDF1/YAP signaling axis to upregulate chemokine CXCL5 and disrupt the bone microenvironment.Apoptosis : an international journal on programmed cell death · 2026Article
- Analysis of the heterogeneity of the immune microenvironment of bone metastases and new strategies of nanotechnology intervention.Oncology reviews · 2026Review
- Targeting Netrin-1 Mediates the Suppression of Osteolytic Bone Metastasis in Breast Cancer by Ugonin L.International journal of biological sciences · 2026Article
- Immune checkpoint inhibition in bone metastases: lesion response heterogeneity, the osteoimmune niche, and microenvironment-directed therapy.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Dynamic Hydrogels: Adaptive Biomaterials for Engineering Tumor Microenvironment and Cancer Treatment.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Ras-proximate-1 (RAP1): a prognosis and therapeutic target in the metastatic spread of breast cancer.Clinical & experimental metastasis · 2025Review
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- Immunotherapy in the Fight Against Bone Metastases: A Review of Recent Developments and Challenges.Current treatment options in oncology · 2024Review
- Elucidating the Intricate Roles of Gut and Breast Microbiomes in Breast Cancer Metastasis to the Bone.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2024Review
- Balancing the Scales: The Dual Role of Interleukins in Bone Metastatic Microenvironments.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Breast Tumor Metastasis and Its Microenvironment: It Takes Both Seed and Soil to Grow a Tumor and Target It for Treatment.Cancers · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBone is one of the most frequent sites for breast cancer metastasis. Breast cancer bone metastasis (BCBM) leads to skeletal morbidities including pain, fractures, and spinal compression, all of which severely impact quality of life. Immunotherapy is a promising therapy for patients with advanced cancer, but whether it may provide benefit to metastatic bone cancer is currently unknown. Thus, a better understanding of the immune landscape of bone-disseminated breast cancers may reveal new therapeutic strategies. In this study, we use histopathological analysis to investigate changes within the immune microenvironment of primary breast cancer and paired BCBM.
methodsSixty-three patients with BCBM, including 31 with paired primary and bone metastatic lesions, were included in our study. The percentage of stroma and stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was evaluated by histopathological analysis. The quantification of stromal TILs (CD4 + and CD8 +), macrophages (CD68 + and HLA-DR +), programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), and programmed cell death protein ligand 1 (PD-L1) was evaluated through immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. Statistical analysis was performed with paired t test, Wilcoxon test, spearman correlation test, and univariate and multivariate cox regression.
resultsMedian survival after BCBM pathological diagnosis was 20.5 months (range: 3-95 months). Of the immune parameters measured, none correlated with survival after bone metastasis was diagnosed. Compared to the primary site, bone metastases exhibited more tumor stroma (mean: 58.5% vs 28.87%, p < 0.001) and less TILs (mean: 8.45% vs 14.03%, p = 0.042), as determined by H&E analysis. The quantification of primary vs metastatic tissue area with CD4 + (23.95/mm
conclusionsOur findings suggest that compared to the primary breast cancer site, bone metastases harbor a less active immune microenvironment. Despite this relatively dampened immune landscape, expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 in the bone metastasis indicates a potential benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors for some BCBM cases.
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