The Cell Surface

THERE is little doubt that there are important differences in the biologic behavior of tumor cells and normal cells that can be correlated with altered surface properties. Thus, the uncontrolled growth and invasiveness of cancers is accompanied in vivo by loss of contact inhibition of cell movement and cell division, decreased surface adhesiveness and altered membrane transport of various nutrients. This correspondence between in vivo and in vitro observations has stimulated considerable interest in the underlying molecular events that control cell surface properties. Two major themes, which are probably not mutually exclusive, have been developed to explain how membrane function . . .