Metastasis
hideMetastasis (Greek: displacement, μετά=next + στάσις=placement, plural: metastases), or Metastatic disease, sometimes abbreviated mets, is the spread of a disease from one organ or part to another non-adjacent organ or part. Only malignant tumor cells and infections have the established capacity to metastasize; however, this is recently reconsidered by new research.
Cancer cells can break away, leak, or spill from a primary tumor, enter lymphatic and blood vessels, circulate through the bloodstream, and settle down to grow within normal tissues elsewhere in the body. Metastasis is one of three hallmarks of malignancy (contrast benign tumors). Most tumors and other neoplasms can metastasize, although in varying degrees (e.g., glioma and basal cell carcinoma rarely metastasize).
When tumor cells metastasize, the new tumor is called a secondary or metastatic tumor, and its cells are like those in the original tumor. This means, for example, that, if breast cancer metastasizes to the lungs, the secondary tumor is made up of abnormal breast cells, not of abnormal lung cells. The tumor in the lung is then called metastatic breast cancer, not lung cancer.
For more information about Metastasis, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with cancer metastasis
Researchers create 'fly paper' to capture circulating cancer cells
Nov 18, 2009 |
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Just as fly paper captures insects, an innovative new device with nano-sized features developed by researchers at UCLA is able to grab cancer cells in the blood that have broken off from a tumor.
Experimental agent reduces breast cancer metastasis to bone
Nov 03, 2009 |
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Researchers have reduced breast cancer metastasis to bone using an experimental agent to inhibit ROCK, a protein that was found to be over-expressed in metastatic breast cancer. In a study in mice, the team of researchers ...
Scientists identify gene that predicts post-surgical survival from brain metastasis of breast cancer patients
Sep 01, 2009 |
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Researchers at the National Cancer Institute have identified a gene that may play a role in breast cancer metastasis to the brain, according to a report in Molecular Cancer Research, a journal of the Americ ...
Breakthrough uses light to manipulate cell movement
Aug 19, 2009 |
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One of the biggest challenges in scientists' quest to develop new and better treatments for cancer is gaining a better understanding of how and why cancer spreads. Recent breakthroughs have uncovered how ...
'Microfluidic Palette' May Paint Clearer Picture of Biological Processes
Jul 28, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The masterpieces that spring from the talents of Rembrandt, Van Gogh and other artists often begin with the creation of a gradient of colors on a palette. In a similar manner, researchers ...
Protein that promotes cancer cell growth identified
Jul 24, 2009 |
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Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have found that the Caspase-8 protein, long known to play a major role in promoting programmed cell death (apoptosis), helps relay signals that can cause cancer ...
RNA snippet suppresses spread of aggressive breast cancer
Jun 13, 2009 |
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High levels of a tiny fragment of RNA appear to suppress the spread of breast cancer in mice, according to researchers at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
New technique may help detect potential breast cancer spread
May 08, 2009 |
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A new phase III clinical trial of early stage breast cancer patients has shown that a molecule designed to home in on nearby lymph nodes is just as accurate as current techniques, but faster, more specific and easier to use.
New test may predict breast cancer metastasis
Apr 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In a finding that could change the way breast cancer is treated, researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center have identified a new marker for breast cancer metastasis.
New discovery raises doubts about current bladder treatment
Mar 25, 2009 |
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Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have found that one of the genes commonly thought to promote the growth and spread of some types of cancers is in fact beneficial in bladder cancer - a major discovery ...
An individualized approach to breast cancer treatment
Jan 26, 2009 |
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Not all breast cancers are the same, and not all will have fatal consequences. But because clinicians find it difficult to accurately determine which tumors will metastasize, many patients do not receive the therapy fits ...
Researchers map new path to colon cancer therapy
Dec 15, 2008 |
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University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have identified a promising new target in the battle against colorectal cancer — a biochemical pathway critical to the spread of tumors to new locations in the body. ...
