| Tumor cells that spread to distant organs often
use the blood stream to reach those sites. The metastatic process is very
inefficient because tumor cells may be cleared in the blood stream if they
may be unable to arrest within the vasculature of their target organs. Tumor
cells that reach those organs may still be unable to survive and grow there.
Arrest in streaming blood is difficult for tumor cells because they are
exposed to shear forces generated by blood flow. Tumor cells can, however,
interact with platelets that are equipped with very efficient mechanisms
that allow them to attach, even if they are exposed to very high shear forces.
Work from this laboratory provides evidence that metastatic tumor cells
can express integrin adhesion receptors in a functionally activated form,
which enable the tumor cells to interact and team up with platelets for
successful anchorage in the blood stream. |
