A description of how healthy and normal a cell or tissue looks under the microscope. Well-differentiated cells appear mature, similar to one another, and orderly. Poorly differentiated cells are irregular and misshapen. See Grade.

Refers to how similar a normal cell is to a cancer cell; defines what degree of change has occurred. Cancer cells that are well differentiated are close to the original cell and are usually less aggressive. Poorly differentiated cells have changed more and are more aggressive.

When the sperm and egg come together to form a complete cell, cell division begins immediately. As more cells are created from the original, they begin to become different or to differentiate into cells that form the various parts and organs of our body. When cells first become cancerous, they may look very much like the ordinary cells of our body, or well differentiated. They may then become less like normal cells or moderately differentiated. The more aggressive cancer cells are usually poorly differentiated and may not look anything at all like a normal cell. See Gleason Score.

Clearly defined. Differentiated tumor cells are similar in appearance to normal cells.

Refers to how specialized a cell is to perform a specific function; in cancer, the more specialized or differentiated the cancer cell is, the closer to normal it is.

Specialized; having a function

Cells that maintain, in culture, all or much of the specialized structure and function typical of the cell type in vivo.