Tumors have found a bloody new way to grow and spread

Tumors have found a bloody new way to grow and spread

(By Mitch Leslie, Jun. 16, 2016)

Researchers knew at the time that tumors can induce the endothelial cells of normal blood vessels to form new supply lines into a tumor, a process called angiogenesis. But Hendrix and her colleagues contended that tumor cells themselves sometimes create their own blood-delivering tubes, a mechanism they dubbed vasculogenic mimicry (also known as vascular mimicry).