title: Revisiting the seed and soil in cancer metastasis.
abstract: Metastasis remains the overwhelming cause of death for cancer patients. During metastasis, cancer cells will leave the primary tumor, intravasate into the bloodstream, arrest at a distant organ, and eventually develop into gross lesions at the secondary sites. This intricate process is influenced by innumerable factors and complex cellular interactions described in 1889 by Stephen Paget as the seed and soil hypothesis. In this review, we revisit this seed and soil hypothesis with an emerging understanding of the cancer cell (i.e. seed) and its microenvironment (i.e. soil). We will provide background to suggest that a critical outcome of the seed-soil interaction is resistance of the stresses that would otherwise impede metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Tumor and Metastasis Biology Section, Pediatric Oncology Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 37 Convent Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mendoza
authors.forename: Chand
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Khanna
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015687:Cell Hypoxia; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007249:Inflammation; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000473:pathology*; D009366:Neoplasm Seeding
chemical_list: D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins