Human sinusoidal subendothelial cells regulate homing and invasion of circulating metastatic prostate cancer cells to bone marrow

Subendothelial cells (pericytes) are the clonogenic, multipotent and self-renewing skeletal stem cells (SSCs) found in bone marrow (BM) stroma. They express genes maintaining hematopoietic stem cell (HMC) niche identity and, transplanted in immunocompromised mice, organize the hematopoietic microenvironment (HME) generating humanized bone/BM ossicles. To create a mouse model of hematogenous metastasis of human prostate cancer (PC) cells to human bone/BM, we injected PC cells in the blood circulatory system of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID)/beige mice bearing heterotopic ossicles. Results indicate that PC cells could efficiently home to mice-implanted extraskeletal BM ossicles, but were not able to colonize mice skeletal segments. In humanized bone/BM ossicles, early foci of PC cells occupied a perisinusoidal position, in close contact with perivascular stromal cells. These findings demonstrate the importance of the SSC compartment in recreating a suitable environment to metastatic PC cells. Our data support the hypothesis that BM SSCs committed to a pericyte fate can specify for homing niches of PC cells, suggesting an involvement of specific interactions with subendothelial stromal cells in extravasation of circulating metastatic PC cells to BM.