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Figure 3. This schematic highlights the role of VEGF signaling in driving bone-metastatic tumor progression. Engagement of VEGFL with its receptor (VEGFr) on tumor cells activates downstream pro-tumoral pathways - including MAPK/ERK and PI3K/AKT - that enhance cell survival, EMT, and proliferative capacity. Collectively, these signaling cascades promote cancer cell invasion, growth, and survival within the bone microenvironment. Created in BioRender. Mohammad, K. (2025) https://BioRender.com/ig2q2za. VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGFL: VEGF ligand; MAPK: mitogen-activated protein kinase; EMT: epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.