The new therapeutic strategy for inhibition of cancer metastasis: targeting extravasation of cancer cells

Cancer metastasis is the most primary aspect of patient mortality. Recent research has showed extravasation of cancer cells is a crucial step in metastasis. During extravasation, cancer cells reach new foci after attaching vascular endothelial cells and crossing the vessel walls at metastatic sites. The process is closely associated with vascular endothelial cells, circulating platelets and leukocytes, as well as the tissue microenvironment. The results of these studies suggest that the inhibition of extravasation of cancer cells will become an effective strategy for treatment of cancer metastasis. This review focuses on the mechanism and process of extravasation of cancer metastasis, and discusses the prospects of future research, which may provide some beneficial references for therapy of cancer and investigators involved in this research area.