Intestinal cancer. Light micrograph of a section through the lining of the colon (large intestine), showing a malignant (cancerous) neoplasm (dark pink, top). A neoplasm is an abnormal proliferation of cells. Malignant neoplasms of this type derive from the surface layer (epithelium) and spread into the sub-epithelial connective tissues (light pink and white) and further (as shown). However, similar benign (non-cancerous) neoplasms tend to grow in the form of warty, papillary, or nodular outgrowths from the surface and don't infiltrate downwards into the sub-epithelial layers; see image: C003/0269.