A 49-year-old woman, who has been generally healthy, attends her annual gynecologic examination. The primary care physician conducts routine screenings, including a complete blood count (CBC), which reveals a significantly low hemoglobin level, indicating severe anemia. Considering the severity of the anemia, the patient is referred to a hematologist for a more thorough investigation. The hematologist, after a series of diagnostic tests including serum iron studies and a bone marrow biopsy, suspects an underlying gastrointestinal cause for the anemia and refers the patient to a gastroenterologist. The gastroenterologist performs both an endoscopy and a colonoscopy, revealing a partially obstructing mass in the colon. A biopsy of the mass is taken during the procedure. Pathology reports confirm the presence of a malignant tumor, and the patient undergoes surgical resection of the tumor. Post-surgery, the patient and her husband are informed that she has been diagnosed with stage III colon cancer, with two lymph nodes involved.

Questions:
Cancer Cell Characterization: How are cancer cells characterized and differentiated from normal cells in the context of this case? Consider the morphological and functional aspects.