Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0153690 (bone metastases)
 6,382 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Several members of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family have an important role in the development of skeletal tissues. FGF-8 is widely expressed in the developing skeleton, but its function there has remained unknown. We asked in this study whether FGF-8 could have a role in the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells to an osteoblastic lineage. Addition of FGF-8 to mouse bone marrow cultures effectively increased initial cell proliferation as well as subsequent osteoblast-specific alkaline phosphatase production, bone nodule formation, and calcium accumulation if it was added to the cultures at an early stage of osteoblastic differentiation. Exogenous FGF-8 also stimulated the proliferation of MG63 osteosarcoma cells, which was blocked by a neutralizing antibody to FGF-8b. In addition, the heparin-binding growth factor fraction of Shionogi 115 (S115) mouse breast cancer cells, which express and secrete FGF-8 at a very high level, had an effect in bone marrow cultures similar to that of exogenous FGF-8. Interestingly, experimental nude mouse tumors of S115 cells present ectopic bone and cartilage formation as demonstrated by typical histology and expression of markers specific for cartilage (type II and IX collagen) and bone (osteocalcin). These results demonstrate that FGF-8 effectively predetermines bone marrow cells to differentiate to osteoblasts and increases bone formation in vitro. It is possible that FGF-8 also stimulates bone formation in vivo. The results suggest that FGF-8, which is expressed by a great proportion of malignant breast and prostate tumors, may, among other factors, also be involved in the formation of osteosclerotic bone metastases.
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PMID:Regulation of osteoblast differentiation: a novel function for fibroblast growth factor 8. 1643 48

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy of men in Western countries. Patients with advanced prostate cancer suffer from incurable bone metastases. Recent data indicate that interactions between prostate cancer cells, osteoblasts, osteoclasts and the bone matrix are essential in the formation of bone metastases. FGF-8 is widely overexpressed in prostate cancer. Recently, FGF-8 has been found to affect both osteoblast and osteoclast differentiation. The aim of this study was to examine the role of FGF-8 in bone metastasis of prostate cancer. Immunohistochemistry was used to analyse FGF-8 expression in clinical samples of prostate cancer bone metastases. The functional significance of FGF-8 in growth of bone metastasis and formation of bone lesions was verified by using intratibial inoculations of FGF-8 or mock transfected PC-3 prostate cancer cells in nude mice. Intratibial tumors and bone lesions were analysed with X-ray, micro-CT and detailed histomorphometry using image analysis software and with immunostaining for osteocalcin and cathepsin K. Immunohistochemical analysis of tissue microarray of bone metastases of human prostate cancer showed that 76% of human bone metastasis samples (n = 25 from 11 patients) were positive for FGF-8. FGF-8 increased the growth of intratibial tumors and local formation of lytic and sclerotic lesions of bone. These results demonstrate that FGF-8 is expressed at a high frequency in bone metastases of human prostate cancer and that expression of FGF-8 in PC-3 prostate cancer cells increases their growth as intratibial tumors and modulates formation of bone lesions in an in vivo model of prostate cancer bone metastasis.
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PMID:FGF-8 is involved in bone metastasis of prostate cancer. 1838 87