A particle adhesion perspective on metastasis

One area of interest in bioadhesion that has not been emphasized within the adhesion science community relates to the disaggregation of cells which oc curs when cancer metastases arise. Metastasis involves the distribution of cancerous tumor cells from a large localized tumor. The resulting spatial s eparation of the cancerous masses makes treatment more difficult. Making us e of biochemical and cellular assays, detailed mechanisms for the cell deta chment processes involving cadherin cell adhesion molecules have been propo sed. This paper reviews proposed mechanisms for metastasis from a cellular adhesion perspective and the testing methodologies that have been utilized. Additional understanding might be gleaned from considering the loss of cel l adhesion molecules and the overall disaggregation process from a particle adhesion perspective. Several pertinent theories are presented as well as a brief discussion of areas for future effort.