Hallmarks, Invading tissues: Hanahan

Professor Douglas Hanahan discusses how cancers kill you, in general, not just because they grow into a large lump, but because they invade into normal tissues and disrupt the functions of those tissues.

In 2000, Douglas Hanahan (shown below) and Robert Weinberg published a paper in Cell, "The Hallmarks of Cancer," which identified some organizing principles of cancer cell development. “Cancers kill you, in general, not just because they grow into a large lump, but because they invade into normal tissues and disrupt the functions of those tissues and they develop the ability to migrate to distant sites in the body. And these capabilities of invasion and metastasis, which are very closely linked but perhaps have separable aspects as well, are very important for the fatality of most cancers. And this is the one that's perhaps least connected to simple cell growth and accumulation of the cells, but actually are producing cells that really are able to sustain themselves, expand, and migrate.”

invasion and metastasis, robert weinberg, cancer cell, professor douglas, hallmarks, fatality, cancers, accumulation, tissues, cells, capabilities

  • ID: 948
  • Source: DNALC.IC

Related Content

947. Hallmarks, Invading tissues

Professor Robert Weinberg, explains that cancer cells have to learn how to invade and metastasize.

  • ID: 947
  • Source: IC

942. Hallmarks, Evading death: Hanahan

Professor Douglas Hanahan explains that a fundamental property of multi-cellular organisms is the capability to have cells commit suicide or undergo apoptosis, which is a form of programmed cell death.

  • ID: 942
  • Source: IC

941. Hallmarks, Evading death

Professor Robert Weinberg discusses how cancer cells have to learn how to avoid the process of programmed cell death known as apoptosis carried out in normal cells.

  • ID: 941
  • Source: IC

938. Hallmarks, Overview: Hanahan

Professor Douglas Hanahan discusses how cancer acquires capabilities and these capabilities are all, to some approximation, necessary to produce a successful tumor.

  • ID: 938
  • Source: IC

935. Hallmarks, Overview

Cancer is a disease that affects people of all nationalities and age groups and all cancers start with mutations in one cell.

  • ID: 935
  • Source: IC

939. Hallmarks, Growing uncontrollably

Professor Robert Weinberg explains that cancer cells have to learn how to grow in the absence of growth stimulatory signals that normal cells require from their environment.

  • ID: 939
  • Source: IC

946. Hallmarks, Becoming immortal: Hanahan

Professor Douglas Hanahan, discusses that due to the nature of the replication machinery chromosomes get smaller every time they divide, and that we now appreciate that specialized cells in the body have a way to counteract this telomere shorting.

  • ID: 946
  • Source: IC

943. Hallmarks, Processing nutrients

Professor Robert Weinberg explains how cancer cells have to learn how to become angiogenic, that is to say attract blood vessels to grow into the tumor mass.

  • ID: 943
  • Source: IC

940. Hallmarks, Growing uncontrollably: Hanahan

Professor Douglas Hanahan explains that not only are there positive signals that tell cells to grow but there are negative signals to stop such proliferation, and loss of the negative growth control signals is a common denominator for many cancers.

  • ID: 940
  • Source: IC

944. Hallmarks, Processing nutrients: Hanahan

Professor Douglas Hanahan discusses how cancer cells require a source of nutrients and oxygen, which is supplied through new blood vessel growth – the process of angiogenesis, which is critical for almost all cancers.

  • ID: 944
  • Source: IC