Many common cancers, including breast, prostate and lung cancers, have a propensity to metastasize to bone. Although these cancers go undetected in their native tissues, bone metastases often produce excruciating pain, the etiology of which is poorly understood. Cancer-induced bone pain (CIBP) is not well-controlled with existing medications, severely compromising patient quality of life. While CIBP is multifaceted, increased level of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate in the bone-tumor microenvironment may contribute to the pain state. Here, we demonstrate for the first time a relationship between reactive oxygen/nitrogen species, glutamate in the bone-tumor microenvironment and pain behaviors. The murine mammary adenocarcinoma cell line 66.1 is found to release glutamate via the cystine/glutamate antiporter system xc⁻. In a syngeneic model of breast CIBP in which 66.1 cells are inoculated into the femur intramedullary space, administration of sulfasalazine, an established system xc⁻ inhibitor and anti-inflammatory agent, reduces femur glutamate level and attenuates CIBP-related behaviors. Peroxynitrite, a reactive nitrogen species known to be generated in breast tumors, is shown to drive 66.1 system xc⁻ functional expression and tumor cell glutamate release. The elimination of peroxynitrite with the redox modulators FeTMPyP or SRI10 not only modulates tumor cell system xc⁻ functional expression in vitro and in vivo, significantly altering glutamate levels, but also assuages CIBP. In sum, we demonstrate that pharmacological inhibition of system xc⁻ transport attenuates CIBP-related behaviors. These data support a role for tumor-derived glutamate in CIBP and validate system xc⁻ an analgesic target in this pain state.