The Role of Fibrin(ogen) in Transendothelial Cell Migration During Breast Cancer Metastasis

Abstract

Despite all the modern advances in treatment for breast cancer, metastatic disease remains the hurdle to surmount in curing breast cancer or, at least, in significantly reducing morbidity and mortality to improve long-term survival and quality of life. For over a century, inflammation and thrombosis have been linked to metastatic cancer (Boccaccio & Medico, 2006). In addition to being known for describing the factors leading to venous thromboembolism (alterations in blood flow, vascular endothelial injury, and hypercoagulability) as Virchow’s triad, in 1863 Virchow noted a connection between chronic inflammation and cancer based on the recruitment of leukocytes to cancerous lesions (reviewed in (Balkwill & Mantovani, 2001)) (Fig. 1).