Micrometastases development

Finally, and most importantly, these cells must now be able to proliferate within the new organ parenchyma, if they are to give rise to a clinically relevant metastatic colony. To expand further, the micrometastases must develop a vascular network and evade destruction by host defenses. Malignant cells can then invade into the blood vessels, and start the metastatic process again. 

Lin, W. C., Pretlow, T. P., Pretlow, T. G. 2d and Culp, L. A. (1990a) Development of micrometastases earliest events detected with bacterial lacZ gene-tagged tumor cells. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 82,1497-1503. 

Potential Clinical Applications - The major cause of treatment failure in patients with solid turrors is metastasis. The primary tumor can usually be eliminated by current therapeutic techniques. However, half the patients with a newly diagnosed tumor will already have clinically silent micrometastases. Thus major goals of cancer research are to develop inproved methods to predict vhether an individual patient s tumor has already metastasized, and to provide strategies for prevention or localization of metastases. Biochemical information about tumor collagenases may ultimately be applied to approach these goals. 

The molecular detection of micrometastases is more sensitive and selective than the classic histopathologic examination of lymph nodes. Many studies showed that about one-third of breast cancer patients with histological negative lymph nodes develop recurrent disease due to the presence of lymph node micrometastases or isolates tumor cells. 

---