Metastatic Risk

The role of bone marrow in bone metastasis is an emerging area of exploration, with current literature reporting the shared signalling mechanisms between colon cancer cells and mesenchymal stem cells in the bone marrow microenvironment. The traditional means of examining bone marrow through biopsy is invasive. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) offers a non-invasive means of quantifying bone marrow composition. Of particular relevance to this grant proposal is the recent comparative review of the abilities of clinically relevant imaging modalities (radiography, CT and MRI) to quantify prostate cancer involving bone in a mouse, concluding that only MRI delineated prostate tumors involving bone.