Adhesion of Tumor Cells to Endothelium Under Static Conditions

A variety of adhesive interactions take place between tumor cells (TC) and vascular endothelium in tumor progression and metastasis (1 ). One of the most important events of the metastatic cascade is the arrest of circulating TC in the capillary bed of secondary organs followed by the interaction with vascular endothelium and subendothelial basement membrane—events that precede TC extravasation and then metastasis formation. Preferential interaction between tumor cells and the microvascular endothelium/extracellular matrix of different areas have been reported to contribute to the homing of metastasis (2 ).