What happens when cancer cells invade?
What is known is that there is an entity called the extracellular matrix and that extracellular matrix is a barrier to tumor progression. It acts like a boundary. Tumors secrete these matrix metalloproteinases. These matrix metalloproteinases facilitate the tumors’ ability to invade, so you lose that border and the tumor cells can actually invade into the normal tissue. These matrix metalloproteinases also facilitate angiogenesis. They stimulate the formation of these new blood vessels. These new vessels are not normal blood vessels. They’re actually very fragile and not as sturdy as the ones we develop on our own. The other thing these matrix metalloproteinases do is they facilitate the ability of the tumor cells to get into the blood vessels and to reach different sites, so they facilitate metastasis. What we know is that if these matrix metalloproteinases can be inhibited, we have the potential to arrest tumor progression. It might be possible to block invasion, it might be possible
