Cancer Metastasis Through the Lymphatic Versus Blood Vessels

Overview

Journal Clin Exp Metastasis

Specialty Oncology

Date 2024 Jun 28

PMID 38940900

Authors

Stanley P Leong

Marlys H Witte

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Whether cancer cells metastasize from the primary site to the distant sites via the lymphatic vessels or the blood vessels directly into the circulation is still under intense study. In this review article, we follow the journey of cancer cells metastasizing to the sentinel lymph nodes and beyond to the distant sites. We emphasize cancer heterogeneity and microenvironment as major determinants of cancer metastasis. Multiple molecules have been found to be associated with the complicated process of metastasis. Based on the large sentinel lymph node data, it is reasonable to conclude that cancer cells may metastasize through the blood vessels in some cases but in most cases, they use the sentinel lymph nodes as the major gateway to enter the circulation to distant sites.

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