So, the cancer cell determines that it is not where it is supposed to be. What does it need to do then? It must free itself from the tissue matrix in which it resides, and it does this by secreting proteases called degradomes, and, this causes the cancer cell to become "unglued" and begin its metastatic journey to other tissues. The CancerDegradome.org website will report on the latest advances in the characterization of these degradomes.
A theory created to explain the fact that cancer cells turn back to normal when put in an embryo; it's called the cell recognition theory of cancer. Basically, a cell loses touch with its neighbor(s)or with the ECM. This releases the physical constraints on the nucleus which then cycles through earlier embryonic stages hoping to establish contact once again (it partially succeeds when it establishes a metastasis).
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