Figure 1
From: Understanding the colon cancer stem cells and perspectives on treatment
Carcinogenesis of colon cancer. Progression of colon normal epithelium to invasive carcinoma goes through several stages. The invasive carcinoma stage involves epithelial cells losing their polarity and detaching from the basement membrane altering cell-ECM interactions and signaling networks producing changes in stem cells that generate cancer stem cells. Malignant phase of tumor growth can progress from this stage to metastatic cancer, also involving invasion of tissue by feed blood vascular systems.