CONTEXT

Cancer is the second mortality cause in developed countries with colorectal and breast cancers causing high rate of mortality. Approximately 90% of all cancer deaths arise from the metastatic spread of primary tumors. Of all the processes involved in carcinogenesis, local invasion and the formation of metastases are clinically the most relevant, but they are the least well understood at the molecular level. During progression from tumor growth to metastasis, cellular invasive and migratory behavior is governed at both extracellular and intracellular levels and depends on the carefully balanced dynamic interaction of the cell with its extracellular matrix.