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Metastatic spread is a dreadful complication of neoplastic diseases that is responsible for most deaths due to cancer. It consists of the formation of secondary neoplasms from cancer cells that have detached from the primary site. The formation of these secondary foci is not random and several clinical observations indicate that the metastatic colonization exhibits organ selectivity. This organ tropism relies in part, on the complementary adhesive interactions between the cancer cells and their microenvironment. In particular, several lines of evidence suggest that the organ selectivity of colon cancer cells for the liver involves the attachment of circulating cancer cells to endothelial cell adhesion receptors. The aim of this review is to provide an integrative up-to-date review of the literature on the role of the endothelial-cancer cell interactions in liver colonization by metastatic cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]