Morphological evidence for an invasion-independent metastasis pathway exists in multiple human cancers
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BioMed Central
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Research article
Morphological evidence for an invasion-independent metastasis pathway exists in multiple human cancers Takashi Sugino*1, Tomiko Yamaguchi1, Go Ogura1, Atsuko Saito2, Takeaki Hashimoto1, Nobuo Hoshi1, Sayaka Yoshida3, Steve Goodison4 and Toshimitsu Suzuki1 Address: 1Department of Pathology, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan, 2Pathology Division, Jusendo General Hospital, Koriyama, 963-8002, Japan, 3Department of Surgery, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan and 4Department of Pathology, University of Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32209-6511, USA Email: Takashi Sugino* - [email protected]; Tomiko Yamaguchi - [email protected]; Go Ogura - [email protected]; Atsuko Saito - [email protected]; Takeaki Hashimoto - [email protected]; Nobuo Hoshi - [email protected]; Sayaka Yoshida - [email protected]; Steve Goodison - [email protected]; Toshimitsu Suzuki - [email protected] * Corresponding author
Published: 05 April 2004 BMC Medicine 2004, 2:9
Received: 03 December 2003 Accepted: 05 April 2004
This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/2/9 © 2004 Sugino et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.
Abstract Background: We have previously described an alternative invasion-independent pathway of cancer metastasis in a murine mammary tumor model. This pathway is initiated by intravasation of tumor nests enveloped by endothelial cells of sinusoidal vasculature within the tumor. In this study, we examined whether evidence for the invasion-independent pathway of metastasis is present in human cancers. Methods: Archival specimens of 10 common types of human cancers were examined for the presence of sinusoidal vasculature enveloping tumor nests and subsequently generated endothelialcovered tumor emboli in efferent veins. Results: A percentage of tumor emboli in all cancers was found to be enveloped by endothelial cells, but these structures were particularly prevalent in renal cell carcinomas, hepatocellular carcinomas and follicular thyroid carcinomas. A common feature of the vasculature in these tumors was the presence of dilated sinusoid-like structures surrounding tumor nests. A high mean vascular area within tumors, an indication of sinusoidal vascular development, was significantly related to the presence of endothelial-covered tumor emboli. Conclusions: These results suggest that an invasion-independent metastatic pathway is possible in a wide variety of human cancers. Further investigation of this phenomenon may present new therapeutic strategies for the amelioration of cancer metastasis.
Background Cancer metastasis is most often described as a series of sequential processes that involve the following steps: growth of new blood vessels into the primary tumor, local invasion of
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