The biology of colorectal cancer metastasis

Metastasis is a complex multistep process involving a series of tumor-host interactions. Metastatic cancer cells must be capable of completing all stages of this process to establish secondary foci at distant sites. Understanding the biologic processes involved in tumor vascularization (angiogenesis), adhesive interactions between tumor cells, cellular and extracellular components, tumor cell invasion, and tumor-host interactions at distant sites will lead to the ability to identify those cells most likely to metastasize and to the development of therapies for micrometastatic disease.