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.
This article was recently published in PLOS. This is a great scientific publishing medium that doesn't charge anyone a cent to read their stuff, unlike Science and Nature and the others that hoard their publications at the expense of humanity. Anyway, the article points out that a boy being treated with stem cells for a rare genetic condition developed tumors of the brain and spinal cord. These results should come as no surprise for readers of this blog. The cells injected into the nerve tissues were allografts--they were obtained from a source other than the patients own tissues. These clearly will not be at home in another person's body and they will begin to express embryonic Cell Recognition Factors in the hope that they could establish communication. As we have learned here, a cell must know exactly where it is. Such communication must exist. If it does not, it would mean that A) any manner of invader could easily make its home in another multicellular organism, or B) any...
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