Wilson Onuigbo
Since the lung cancer cell (LCC) has direct access to the pulmonary vein, left heart and aorta, it has an optimum opportunity for distant dispersal. However, at necropsy, there are as many as ten dispersal patterns which are anomalous in terms of the hematogenous theory of metastasis. As such anomalies may imply imperfections in current concepts, the hematogenous route deserves comparison with its lymphogenous counterpart. On investigating the entire thoracic duct panoramically and the contralateral pulmonary blood vessels selectively, it was demonstrated that LCCs are more prone to necrosis in the blood stream than in the lymph stream. Therefore, it is hypothesized as follows: (a) that LCCs possess different intrinsic or acquired attributes during their transportation in blood and lymph, (b) that LCCs harvested from blood and from lymph will yield contradistinct cell lines when cultured, and (c) that such identifiable cell lines can become natural targets in translational research.
