how does cancer get around the body ??

Question: how does cancer get around the body ??
- Keywords:
  body,
  cancer,
  metastasis,
  move
Asked by chloeben to Tim on 10 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by todeep.
- Tim Millar answered on 10 Jun 2011:
  
  Cancer can move around the body through the tissue, through the blood stream or through specialised tubes called the lymphatic system. Something changes within the cancer cells to make them move and they stop sticking to their neighbours. When this happens they crawl into the blood system where they can circulate to all different parts of the body. Eventually some will stick to the blood vessel wall and crawl out into the surrounding tissue where the set up a new cancer. This is a “secondary” or “metastatic” cancer. These are hard to treat, but part of my research is to capture the cancer within the blood vessels and remove them with the bodies own defencies. Hopefully in the future this will lead to new treatments to stop cancer spreading.

Question: how does cancer get around the body ??