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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Jul 19.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Cancer. 2021 May 5;21(7):446–460. doi: 10.1038/s41568-021-00353-1

Fig. 2 ∣. Long noncoding RNAs involved in the multiple processes of the invasion–metastasis cascade.

Fig. 2 ∣

Metastasis is a result of a series of orchestrated cellular processes (invasion–metastasis cascade). First, changes in morphology and cellular adhesion are facilitated through epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). Cancer cells then invade the surrounding normal tissue (local invasion) and make way into (intravasation) and out of (extravasation) the systemic circulation to land at a distant site. There, the metastatic cells proliferate and colonize an often-foreign tissue environment. Numerous long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to regulate one or more of these processes (shown in the centre of the figure with arrows indicating the involvement in the corresponding processes).