Abstract 2904: Mechanical loading induced osteogenic response does not interfere with the colonization of breast cancer in bone
Authors: Sprules Alexandria R. , Latif Norain B. , Brown Janet E. , Gartland Alison , Wang Ning 
Published: July 2021

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and frequently metastasizes to bone. Previous evidence has suggested that cancer cells target the osteoblastic lineage cells to establish colonization of bone. It is well established that mechanical loading (e.g. load bearing exercise) elevates bone remodeling via stimulating osteoblastic activities. Whether mechanical loading facilitates the colonization of breast cancer cells in bone is not fully understood. To test this, we have firstly applied a murine tibial mechanical loading model and determined the effects of mechanical loading on bone remodeling in vivo. Six 10-week-old BALB/c nude female mice were subjected to a right tibial dynamic load (9N) onto a 2N pre-load using the ElectroForce 5500 Test Instrument, 40 load cycles with 10 sec intervals, 3 times a week for 1 week. Mice were then euthanized with additional 4 mice euthanized before mechanical loading as baseline controls. Quantitative micro-CT analysis suggested that bone mass related parameters significantly increased in the loaded tibias compared to contra-lateral non-loaded controls, while data in the baseline group showed no differences between left and right tibias. As previously published 2-week loading regimens, one week of loading was enough to induce a 24.3% increase in trabecular bone volume (P=0.001, paired t-test), a 9.0% increase in trabecular thickness (P= 0.01), and a 17.9% increase in cortical bone volume (P&lt;0.0001). Using this model, we tested whether mechanical loading affects the arrival of breast cancer cells in bone. Human and mouse breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231 and 4T1) were firstly labelled with vital fluorescent lipophilic dyes (Vybrant DiD) to allow tracking of individual tumor cells arriving in bone ex vivo. Cells were injected into the circulation (intracardiac) after mice (BALB/c nude and BALB/c) subjected to 1-week of mechanical loading. Mice were then loaded 3 times more to maintain bone mass before euthanized 7 days post-injection. DiD labelled cancer cells were examined and quantified in tibial bone marrow using multiphoton microscopy ex vivo. In both xenograft and syngeneic models, there were no significant differences found in the number of breast cancer cells arriving in bone marrow (MDA: P=0.32; 4T1: P=0.67) and their relative location to bone surfaces (MDA: P= 0.45; 4T1: P= 0.91) in loaded vs non-loaded bones. There was no significant difference in size of objectives (indicating size of micro tumors) detected in the MDA model (P= 0.21), comparing loaded to non-loaded control tibias but a significant 17.7% reduction in the 4T1 model in the loaded tibias (P=0.02). These pre-clinical data demonstrate that mechanical loading induced osteoblastic bone formation does not affect the initial colonization of breast cancer cells in bone, and suggest that load bearing exercise will not increase the risk of breast cancer bone metastasis in patients.

Citation Format: Alexandria R. Sprules, Norain B. Latif, Janet E. Brown, Alison Gartland, Ning Wang. Mechanical loading induced osteogenic response does not interfere with the colonization of breast cancer in bone [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 2904.