{"entity":{"id":"lymph-node","kind":"term","name":"Lymph node","aka":["lymph nodes","lymph-node","lymph-nodes","node-positive","node-negative","nodal","nodal involvement","nodal disease","lymphatic","lymphatics","lymphatic system","sentinel lymph node","sentinel node","axillary nodes","regional nodes","regional lymph nodes"],"tldr":"Small bean-shaped filters along the lymph vessels where immune cells gather. They are often the first place a cancer spreads, so surgeons check them to see how far the disease has gone.","summary":"Lymph drains fluid from tissues back to the blood, passing through nodes where T and B cells inspect it for infection; cancer cells that enter lymph vessels lodge in the nearest nodes first, so node involvement (the N in TNM) is a central marker of a cancer's tendency to spread and raises the stage. Sentinel-node biopsy identifies and removes only the first node or two that drain a tumour, sparing patients the arm swelling (lymphoedema) that removing all nodes causes. Lymph nodes are also where immune responses against a tumour are launched, and where immunotherapy needs functioning T cells to be primed.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymph_node","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymph_node"}],"tags":[],"related":["metastasis","cancer-stage","tnm-staging","lymphoma-type","immune-system","t-cell"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["sentinel-node"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Biology basics"},"route":"/terms/lymph-node/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"extranodal-extension","kind":"term","name":"Extranodal extension (ENE)","route":"/terms/extranodal-extension/"},{"id":"immune-system","kind":"term","name":"Immune system","route":"/terms/immune-system/"},{"id":"lymphoma-type","kind":"term","name":"Lymphoma (tissue type)","route":"/terms/lymphoma-type/"},{"id":"metastasis","kind":"term","name":"Metastasis","route":"/terms/metastasis/"},{"id":"cancer-stage","kind":"term","name":"Stage","route":"/terms/cancer-stage/"},{"id":"t-cell","kind":"term","name":"T cell","route":"/terms/t-cell/"},{"id":"tnm-staging","kind":"term","name":"TNM staging","route":"/terms/tnm-staging/"}],"technology":[{"id":"sentinel-node","kind":"technology","name":"Sentinel lymph node biopsy","route":"/technologies/sentinel-node/"}]}}