Biology of metastasis

1. Metastasis, i.e., dissemination of tumor cells throughout the organism, is the cause of death for most cancer patients. We discuss here the role of the interaction between basement membrane laminin and specific cell receptors in the process. We further show that such interaction is mediated by receptors not only in cancer cells but also in normal granulocytes, in a parasitic protozoan and even in an invasive prokaryote. 2. Metastatic potential has been correlated with the number of receptors/cell and preliminary results with a monoclonal antibody against the S. aureus laminin receptor suggest that the binding site at the receptor level might be conserved. This conclusion is supported by the facts that this monoclonal antibody can recognize the eukaryotic receptor and inhibit laminin binding.