Bioactive lipids and cancer metastasis to bone

Bioactive lipids constitute a large family of molecules considered as inflammatory mediators. Among them, lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), and eicosanoids (prostanoids such as PGE2 and leukotrienes such as LTB4, LTC4, and LTD4) play a central role in the pathophysiology of several inflammatory diseases. However, it has long been known that these bioactive lipids are also involved in cancer, mainly because of their ability to control the pro-inflammatory microenvironment of tumors as well as their ability to act directly on tumor cells promoting cell proliferation, migration, and survival. Recently, there has been increased interest in determining how these lipid mediators orchestrate tumor development and metastasis. Bone metastases result from a complex dialogue between tumor cells and bone cells. Recent findings demonstrate that all these bioactive lipids can profoundly affect bone metabolism by acting positively or negatively on both osteoblasts and osteoclasts. This review gives an overview of previous findings demonstrating direct involvement of LPA, S1P, and PGE2 in bone metastasis. This review also emphasizes the recent findings that characterize the activity of these bioactive lipids directly on bone cells and how these activities could be integrated into the complex molecular mechanisms leading to bone metastasis formation and progression