Hallmarks of Cancer Cells: Uncontrolled Growth, Metastasis, Angiogenesis, Metabolic Reprogramming, and Immune Evasion

Cancer cells exhibit distinctive features:

• Uncontrolled growth/proliferation: Rapid, unregulated division; ignores cell cycle controls.
• Invasion and metastasis: Spread via bloodstream/lymphatics to form secondary tumors.
• Angiogenesis: Promote new blood vessel formation for oxygen/nutrient supply.
• Reprogrammed metabolism (Warburg effect): Rely on glycolysis even with oxygen present.
• Evasion of apoptosis: Avoid programmed cell death, survive despite damage.
• Genomic instability/mutations: Genetic alterations dysregulate cell cycle, growth, apoptosis; acquired or inherited.
• Sustained proliferative signaling: Constitutive activation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR, RAS/MAPK pathways.
• Dysregulated immune response: Evade immune detection via immunosuppressive molecules or downregulation of recognition molecules.
• Tumor microenvironment: Interact with stromal/immune cells and extracellular matrix to influence growth/progression.
• Reprogrammed cellular identity: Acquire stem/embryonic cell characteristics; plasticity aids adaptation and therapy resistance.
• Aneuploidy: Abnormal chromosome number; contributes to genomic instability and mutation acquisition.