Tumor progression
Tumor progression is the third and last phase in tumor development. This phase is characterized by increased growth speed and invasiveness of the tumor cells. As a result of the progression, phenotypical changes occur. Together with the progression, more and more aneuploidy occurs. This leads to expression in cells and nuclear polymorphism.
The epithelial-Mesenchymal transition (EMT) of the Basement Membrane (BM) allows cells of epithelial phenotype to transform into a mesenchymal-like (quasi-mesenchymal) phenotype and metastasize via the lymphovascular system through a metastatic cascade by intravasation and extravasation. This helps in the progression of carcinoma from the primary site to distant organs. Collagen, laminin, and integrin are the prime components of BM and help in tumor cell metastasis, which makes them ideal cancer drug targets. Further, recent studies have shown that collagen, laminin, and integrin can be used as a biomarker for metastatic cells. In a review, Banerjee et al. summarized the current knowledge of such therapeutics, which are either currently in preclinical or clinical stages and could be promising cancer therapeutics 1).