Cell-cell fusion as a mechanism of DNA exchange in cancer

Oncotarget
Stephen C SearlesJack D Bui

Abstract

Cell-cell fusion describes the process by which two cells combine their plasma membranes and become a single cell, possessing and retaining certain genetic information from each parent cell. Here, using a Cre-loxP-based method initially developed to investigate extracellular vesicle targeting, we found that cancer cells spontaneously and rapidly deliver DNA to non-cancer cells in vitro via a cell-cell fusion event. The resulting hybrid cells were aneuploid and possessed enhanced clonal diversity and chemoresistance compared to non-hybrid cancer cells. We also observed cell-cell fusion to occur in vivo between melanoma cells and non-cancer cells of both hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic lineages. These findings suggest that cell-cell fusion occurs during the natural progression of cancer and show that this mechanism has the potential to cause massive genomic alterations that are observed in cancer. Furthermore, these findings somewhat contradict recent publications suggesting that the Cre-loxP method measures only extracellular vesicle-mediated intercellular communication.

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Citations

Feb 20, 2019·Cells·Greggory S LabergeJohn Pawelek
Aug 6, 2019·BioMed Research International·Erhui JiangZhengjun Shang
Feb 20, 2019·International Journal of Molecular Sciences·Catharina MelzerRalf Hass
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Aug 24, 2021·Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology·Oskar A Haas

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
FACS
electron microscopy
PCR
by
DNA exchange
FCS
transmission electron microscopy
flow cytometry

Software Mentioned

GraphPad Prism
GraphPad
FlowJo

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