Is Cancer a Disease of Self-

Seeding?

Larry Norton Joan Massagué

presented by: Giulia Dulá and Alina Gatowski

Current Understanding

Aberrant Migration Invasion Metastasis

Increased proliferation: cell death Dichotomies

Invasion vs. metastasis Tumorigenesis vs. metastatic behavior

What is self-seeding?

Cell mobility is key for primary tumor growth (not just metastasis)

Think about weeds in a field: NOT by one plant

growing large Continuous growth of

new weeds within original site and at periphery

The logic of self-seeding

Mathematics of self-seeding

Fractal geometry

• Gompertzian growth

How does self-seeding fit current understanding?

Increased growth rate and increased total volume of malignancy

Satellite lesions

Larger tumor mass cell density

Aggressive seeding could be cause for large tumor masses with high metastatic potential