The primary cause of death from cancer is the progressive growth of metastases that are resistant to conventional therapies. The site of metastasis from primary neoplasms is not random. Indeed, in 1889, Stephen Paget proposed that the process of metastasis did not occur by chance but, rather, that certain favored tumor cells (the “seed”) had a special affinity for the growth-enhancing milieu within specific organs (the “soil”). He concluded that metastases developed only when the seed and the soil were compatible. Our current version of the seed-and-soil hypothesis consists of two principles. First, neoplasms are heterogeneous: they consist of cells . . .
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Fidler et al. (2004) studied this question.