Fig. 2.

Osteoblast dysfunctions and potential targeted therapies in primary bone tumors. In primary bone tumors, genomic instability, aberrations in tumor suppressor genes, oncogenes and epigenetic deregulation of key transcription factors result in the transformation of osteoblast precursor cells into tumor cells which exhibit deregulated cell proliferation, defective terminal osteoblast differentiation and reduced cell apoptosis. These abnormalities can be specifically targeted to restore normal bone formation, as indicated