Abstract 5890: Osteoblasts are educated into a tumor-associated stromal cell by disseminated breast cancer cells and mediate breast cancer cell proliferation in the bone microenvironment

Breast cancer has a predilection for bone metastasis, where the five-year survival rate is bleak. Disseminated breast cancer cells invade bone and can remain undetectable and untreatable for decades during a period of reduced proliferation. Our work reveals that osteoblasts are educated into a tumor-associated stromal cell by disseminated breast cancer cells and alter their production of exosomal microRNAs that regulate cancer cell cycle....