Intravital microscopy of osteolytic progression and therapy response of cancer lesions in the bone

Eleonora Dondossola, Stephanie Alexander, Boris M. Holzapfel, Stefano Filippini, Michael W. Starbuck, Robert M. Hoffman, Nora Navone, Elena M. De-Juan-pardo, Christopher J. Logothetis, Dietmar W. Hutmacher, Peter Friedl

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

Intravital multiphoton microscopy (iMPM) in mice provides access to cellular and molecular mechanisms of metastatic progression of cancers and the underlying interactions with the tumor stroma. Whereas iMPM of malignant disease has been performed for soft tissues, noninvasive iMPM of solid tumor in the bone is lacking. We combined miniaturized tissue-engineered bone constructs in nude mice with a skin window to noninvasively and repetitively monitor prostate cancer lesions by three-dimensional iMPM. In vivo ossicles developed large central cavities containing mature bone marrow surrounded by a thin cortex and enabled tumor implantation and longitudinal iMPM over weeks. Tumors grew inside the bone cavity and along the cortical bone interface and induced niches of osteoclast activation (focal osteolysis). Interventional bisphosphonate therapy reduced osteoclast kinetics and osteolysis without perturbing tumor growth, indicating dissociation of the tumor-stroma axis. The ossicle window, with its high cavity-to-cortex ratio and long-term functionality, thus allows for the mechanistic dissection of reciprocal epithelial tumor-bone interactions and therapy response.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbereaao5726
JournalScience translational medicine
Volume10
Issue number452
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2018

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

MD Anderson CCSG core facilities

  • Bone Disease Program of Texas Bone Histomorphometry Core

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