Despite the fact that metastases are responsible for 90 percent of cancer deaths, what drives and enables metastatic spread remains little understood. One metastatic mechanism is the reversal of cells to a more primitive phenotype, the so-called epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). Now, researchers from the French Institute Gustave Roussy have shown that one subtype of colorectal tumor cells retained its epithelial phenotype when such cells metastasize to the peritoneum.