TY - JOUR T1 - Collagen - A Necessary Accomplice in the Metastatic Process JF - Cancer Genomics - Proteomics JO - Cancer Genomics Proteomics SP - 319 LP - 327 VL - 4 IS - 5 AU - PAUL S. NERENBERG AU - RAMON SALSAS-ESCAT AU - COLLIN M. STULTZ Y1 - 2007/09/01 UR - http://cgp.iiarjournals.org/content/4/5/319.abstract N2 - The prognosis for cancer patients with metastatic disease remains poor. For cancer to metastasize from a primary tumor to distinct sites in the body, both the extracellular matrix and basement membrane - physiological barriers whose primary structural constituent is collagen - must be degraded to allow the passage of tumor cells. Collagen has long been assumed to be a passive background upon which the biochemical events of metastasis take place, but recent experimental developments instead point to a novel active role for collagen in the immune response to metastasis. Along with a new hypothesis for the mechanism of collagen degradation, these data suggest innovative approaches to prevent the spread of cancer from the primary tumor site. ER -