Stress response genes: the genes that make cancer metastasize.

Cancer is characterized by dysregulated growth control, overcoming of replicative senescence, and metastasis formation. The topology of cancer spread is mediated by a set of developmentally nonessential genes which are physiologically involved in stress responses, inflammation, wound healing, and neovascularization. The function of these gene products is extensively modified posttranscriptionally. In cancer, metastasis genes are dysregulated at the levels of expression or splicing. These genes constitute a unique group of cancer-related biomolecules.