Self-organization in cancer: Implications for histopathology, cancer cell biology, and metastasis

Pathologists use histological features to classify tumors and assign site of origin for metastasis. How and why tumors organize the way they do and recreate their histological organization during metastasis is unknown. Here, I discuss the concept of histostasis'' conferring tumors a histological memory and hypothesize its implications for metastasis.

Automated summary

Pathologists classify tumors based on histological features and determine the site of origin for metastasis. The mechanisms behind how tumors organize themselves and recreate their histological structure during metastasis remain unknown. The concept of "histostasis" is discussed as a potential explanation for tumors possessing a histological memory and its implications for metastasis.