Description
The understanding of metastatic spread is limited and molecular mechanisms causing particular characteristics of metastasis are largely unknown. This comprises the extremely varying dormancy periods of tumor cells in the secondary organ after metastatic spread, represented by the disease-free survival (DFS) of the patients, or differing numbers of metastases in different patients. Knowing the molecular fundamentals of these phenomena would support the individual prediction of patients outcome and facilitate the decision for an appropriate monitoring and therapy regime.