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Review

Nature Reviews Cancer 3, 921–930 (1 December 2003) | doi:10.1038/nrc1231

Intravital imaging of cell movement in tumours

John Condeelis & Jeffrey E. Segall

Metastasis is the cause of death for patients with many types of cancer, but the process of tumour cell dissemination is poorly understood. As primary tumours are three-dimensional, departure of cells from primary tumours has been difficult to study. Multiphoton microscopy has been developed for in vivo imaging and, using this technique, we are beginning to understand how invasive tumour cells move.