Uncontrolled Growth And Spread Of Cancer Cells

Cancer cells differ from normal cells in size, structure, function, and growth rate. These malignant cells lack the normal controls of growth seen in healthy cells, and grow uncontrollably. This uncontrolled growth allows the cancer cells to invade adjacent structures and then destroy surrounding tissues and organs. Malignant cells may also metastasize to other areas of the body through the cardiovascular or lymphatic systems. This uncontrolled growth and spread of cancer cells can eventually interfere with one or more of a person's vital organs or functions and possibly lead to death. The primary sites of cancer metastasis are the bone, the lymph nodes, the liver, the lungs, and the brain (McCance & Roberts, 1998).

Other than inflammatory cells, normal cells do not migrate, but cancer cells do. In order to spread, tumor cells must dissolve the extracellular matrix or ECM (the milieu that surrounds the cells), escape into the circulatory system, be carried to another site, escape out of the circulatory system, and then re-implant. If these processes can be interrupted, it is believed that metastases (which are generally what end up killing cancer patients) can be prevented.

Cancer cells turn off or override normal signals that tell them to stop growing or even commit suicide (a process called apoptosis) if there are already too many cells. By interfering with these pathological signaling processes, Attenuon believes it may be possible to inhibit tumor growth without major side