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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Mar 24.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Cancer. 2011 Sep 23;11(10):735–748. doi: 10.1038/nrc3125

Figure 2 |. Evolving view of the dynamic relationship between the primary tumour and metastasis.

Figure 2 |

a | The traditional view of cancer metastasis in which primary tumour cells escape their site of origin, travel in a unidirectional path away from the primary site and ultimately colonize distant organs to give rise to systemic disease is shown. b | A dynamic view of cancer metastasis in which bone marrow-derived cells are mobilized by tumour-derived inflammatory factors and prime distant sites of metastasis to form the pre-metastatic niche is shown. Disseminated tumour cells (DTCs) (either from the primary tumour or from metastases) that have been selected with enhanced malignancy can colonize distant organs, as well as repopulate the primary site through the phenomenon of self-seeding.