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Putting Bone Metastasis in the Spotlight

Posted on September 13th, 2018 by Dr. Francis Collins

When cancers spread, or metastasize, from one part of the body to another, bone is a frequent and potentially devastating destination. Now, as you can see in this video, an NIH-funded research team has developed a new system that hopefully will provide us with a better understanding of what goes on when cancer cells invade bone.

In this 3D cross-section, you see the nuclei (green) and cytoplasm (red) of human prostate cancer cells growing inside a bioengineered construct of mouse bone (blue-green) that’s been placed in a mouse. The new system features an imaging window positioned next to the new bone, which enabled the researchers to produce the first series of direct, real-time micrographs of cancer cells eroding the interior of bone.

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