ABSTRACT
BREAST CANCER César López-Camarillo,1,a,* Laurence A. Marchat2
and José Ali Flores-Perez1,b
The hallmarks of cancer comprise six essential alterations in cell physiology that dictate malignant growth. Malignant cells acquire self-suffi ciency in growth signals, lack of sensitivity to anti-growth signals, evasion of apoptosis, high replicative potential, angiogenesis, and tissue invasion and metastasis (Hanahan and Weinberg 2000, Lazebnik 2010). The capabilities of cancer cells to invade and metastasize to other tissues and organs represent the most deadly hallmark of breast tumors (Schmidt-Kitter et al. 2003). Metastasis results from cancer cells detaching from a primary tumor, consequently adapting to distant tissues and organs, and forming a secondary tumor. It depends on genetic and epigenetic events that are acquired during tumor progression. To successfully metastasize, a tumor cell must complete a complex set of processes, including invasion, survival and arrest in the circulatory system, and colonization of foreign organs. This involves the activation of complex genetic programs that turn on-off specifi c genes (Steeg 2006).
