Events in metastasis. ASSOCIATION WITH HUMAN CANCERS

• Almost any mammalian organ and cell type can succumb to oncogenic transformation, giving rise to a bewildering array of clinical outcomes. • The causes of cancer are many and varied, and include genetic predisposition, environmental influences, infectious agents and ageing. These transform normal cells into cancerous ones by derailing a wide spectrum of regulatory and downstream effector pathways. It is just this complexity that has hampered the development of effective and specific cancer therapies. • Any attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of cancer-related knowledge would be futile — therefore the next two lectures will focus on topics undergoing particularly rapid progress. Cancer continued; three cancer types