Intravasation
Sign in to saveIntravasation is the invasion of cancer cells through the basement membrane into a blood or lymphatic vessel. Intravasation is one of several carcinogenic events that initiate the escape of cancerous cells from their primary sites. Other mechanisms include invasion through basement membranes, extravasation, and colonization of distant metastatic sites. Cancer cell chemotaxis also relies on this migratory behavior to arrive at a secondary destination designated for cancer cell colonization.
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Contributing factors
- Active and passive intravasation
- Epithelial–mesenchymal transition and intravasation
- References
Intravasation is the invasion of cancer cells through the basement membrane into a blood or lymphatic vessel. Intravasation is one of several carcinogenic events that initiate the escape of cancerous cells from their primary sites. Other mechanisms include invasion through basement membranes, extravasation, and colonization of distant metastatic sites. Cancer cell chemotaxis also relies on this migratory behavior to arrive at a secondary destination designated for cancer cell colonization.
==Contributing factors== One of the genes that contributes to intravasation codes for urokinase (uPA), a serine protease that is able to proteolytically degrade various extracellular matrix (ECM) components and the basement membrane around primary tumors. uPA also activates multiple growth factors and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) that further contribute to ECM degradation, thus enabling tumor cell invasion and intravasation.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Intravasation” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.