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Every organ keeps its lining cells behind a thin, dense sheet of protein called the basement membrane. A tumour that has not crossed it is 'in situ' and essentially curable; crossing it is the moment cancer becomes invasive.
Epithelia sit on a basement membrane of laminin, collagen IV, nidogen and perlecan anchored by integrins (α6β4 at hemidesmosomes) and dystroglycan, beneath which lies interstitial stroma. Polarity (apical-basal), E-cadherin junctions, and contact inhibition keep cells in place. Carcinoma in situ (DCIS, CIN3, Barrett's dysplasia) respects the sheet; invasion requires protease-driven breach (MMP2/9/14, uPA) at invadopodia, loss of polarity (PAR3, SCRIB), integrin switching and EMT-like changes, often assisted by CAFs and macrophages that widen the gap. Myoepithelial cells in breast add a second barrier. Staging encodes this (Tis versus T1) and screening programmes aim to find lesions before the breach.
A shop floor with a locked glass floor beneath it. Staff (epithelial cells) can be unruly upstairs and it is still contained; the emergency begins when someone cuts through the glass into the building services below, where the plumbing (blood and lymph vessels) runs.
Shares Cervical precancer (CIN, HSIL/LSIL), Colposcopy and excisional treatment (LEEP/LLETZ, cone), HPV & HBV vaccination, Cervical cancer and the tags mechanism, mechanics-atlas.
Shares Tissue organisation field theory (Sonnenschein and Soto), Mechanical theory: stiffness, pressure and force as causes, Invasion: proteases, adhesion & the invasive front, HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer and the tags mechanism, mechanics-atlas.
Shares Epithelial-mesenchymal transition & drug efflux and the tags mechanism, mechanics-atlas.
Shares Epithelial-mesenchymal transition & drug efflux and the tags mechanism, mechanics-atlas.
Shares HPV & HBV vaccination and the tags mechanism, mechanics-atlas.
Shares HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer and the tags mechanism, mechanics-atlas.
Shares HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer and the tags mechanism, mechanics-atlas.
Shares HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer and the tags mechanism, mechanics-atlas.