The discovery, while preliminary and untested in humans, could bring much needed relief to the thousands of cancer patients a year who suffer from agonizing bone pain. A report on the finding appears in the May issue of Nature Medicine . Half of breast and prostate cancer patients will develop tumors in their bones. And bone cancer is the leading cause of tumor-related pain. Yet despite its prevalence, pain from bone cancer is poorly understood.
Patients can get some relief from painkillers, such as morphine.
While bone pain is undeniably real, doctors aren't sure of its source. One recent theory, however, is that the presence of tumor topples the normal balance between bone formation and erosion that keeps the skeleton healthy and strong. Patients with bone cancer have up to 100 times more bone-destroying cells than do people without the tumors. At the same time, the patients' bone-building cells don't pick up the slack, says Patrick Mantyh, a neuroscientist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis who headed the study. As the bones break down, they signal pain nerves to fire.