The Cancer Cell: Dynamic Aspects and Modifications in Cell-Surface Organization

(First of Two Parts) The essential features of tumor cells that distinguish them from their normal counterparts are their ability to proliferate in an uncontrolled fashion, invade normal tissues and metastasize to distant sites, though these behavioral alterations are not always coupled. It is now recognized that changes in the surface properties of tumor cells may be important in determining aspects of each of these major behavioral characteristics. Within the primary tumor, alterations in the surface properties of tumor cells contribute to their escape from many of the controls and social restraints to which normal cells are subject. The proliferation.