Some characteristics of metastasis in man

The studies of experimental cancer metastasis are only truly meaningful to the degree that knowledge applicable to the therapeutic problem of cancer metastasis in man ensues from them. The salient features of cancer metastasis in man, therefore, are important to the laboratory researcher, for they provide a framework for which the relevance of an experimental model system must be judged. This brief discussion of some of the clinical characteristics of metastasis in man demonstrates the wide spectrum of biologic behavior and the complex multifaceted nature of this problem. It must be concluded that a complex interaction between tumor cells and host mechanisms eventually governs whether or not metastasis occurs in man.