1. Figure 1 The spread of colorectal cancer metastases
Figure 1 | The spread of colorectal cancer metastases. Most clones that metastasize to the lymph nodes (green) are different from those that metastasize to the liver or lungs (yellow). Thus, the majority of lymph node metastases (LNM) act as sponges rather than seeders; absorbing tumour cells that might give rise to local recurrences but not resulting in additional distant metastases. However, some LNM do share clones with distant metastases, suggesting that clones not absorbed by LNM might be spread via the circulatory system to form distant metastases, as indicated by the question mark.
Nagtegaal, I. D. & Schmoll, H. -J. (2017) What is the role of lymph node metastases in the progression of colorectal cancer?
Nat. Rev. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. doi: /nrgastro