tumor heterogeneity
(TOO-mer HET-er-oh-jen-AY-it-ee)
Describes the fact that one tumor can have many different types of cells in it. This happens because tumor cells can have genes and proteins that are very different from one another. And they can grow at different rates. For this reason, you need to combine treatments to destroy the different cancer cells that can be in one tumor.
Read more about tumor heterogeneity.
Audio contributed by: Marvin Hamlisch