title: The biology of cancer metastasis or, 'you cannot fix it if you do not know how it works'.
abstract: The major cause of death from cancer is the relentless growth of metastases that are resistant to conventional therapy. The pathogenesis of a metastasis is complex and requires that tumor cells complete a sequence of potentially lethal interactions with various host factors. The finding in 1973 that metastasis is a selective process and the finding in 1977 that malignant neoplasms are heterogeneous and contain few preexisting metastatic subpopulations have added a new dimension to our understanding of cancer and its spread. This understanding is now contributing to the design of better therapies against disseminated metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030.
authors.forename: I J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Fidler
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*