The Controversial Clinicobiological Role of Breast Cancer Stem Cells
Figure 3
Metastatic evolution.
Genetic and epigenetic mechanisms may cause the generation of a self-renewing
metastatic cancer stem cell subclone (mCSC, yellow), phenotypically different
from the CSC that is driving tumorigenesis (pink). Through a series of invasive
processes, mCSC enters blood vessels and colonizes distant organs according to
the seed and soil hypothesis. Blue cells represent bulk tumor cells [47].
