Metastasis Genes: Epigenetics

Metastasis is the sequence of interrelated steps by which primary tumor cells acquire the capability to invade adjacent tissue, enter the systemic circulation (intravasate), translocate through the vasculature, arrest in distant capillaries, extravasate into the surrounding tissue parenchyma, and, finally, proliferate from micrometastases into macroscopic secondary tumors [1, 2]. This metastatic process is the cause of 90 percent of deaths in patients with solid tumors [1, 2]. Therefore, unraveling the inner mechanisms of the pathogenesis of metastasis at systemic, cellular, and molecular levels has become a major goal of cancer research [1, 2].